A public affairs officer waits to welcome Navy pilots from Carrier Air Wing 14 (CVW-14) home after a Western Pacific deployment aboard the aircraft carrier USS CORAL SEA (CV-43). A wife of one of the pilots is standing on the right

Aircraft carriers are warships that act as airbases for carrier-based aircraft. In the United States Navy, these consist of ships commissioned with hull classification symbols CV (aircraft carrier), CVA (attack aircraft carrier), CVB (large aircraft carrier), CVL (light aircraft carrier), CVN (aircraft carrier (nuclear propulsion) and CVAN (attack aircraft carrier (nuclear propulsion). The first aircraft carrier commissioned into the United States Navy was USS Langley (CV-1) on 20 March 1922.