A US Navy (USN) F/A-18F Super Hornet, Strike Fighter Squadron 41 (VFA-41), Black Aces, Naval Air Station (NAS) Lemoore, California (CA), makes an arrested landing on the flight deck of the Aircraft Carrier USS NIMITZ (CVN 68). The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is currently on a regularly scheduled deployment and is participating in Maritime Security Operations (MSO)

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.