A US Navy (USN E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft, with the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 124 (VAW- 124), is about to land on the flight deck of the USN Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71), during the Fleet Response Plan (FRP)

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.