A right side view of one of three Mark 15 (3X1) Phalanx weapons systems installed aboard the aircraft carrier USS AMERICA (CV-66) in June 1980. The 3,000 rounds-per-minute system simultaneously measures the location of both target and projectiles in flight, and automatically corrects the fire control system

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.