A starboard bow view of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69) moored at a pier. The ship has just completed an 18-month overhaul at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. shipyard

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.