A view from onboard the US Navy (USN) NIMITZ CLASS: Aircraft Carrier, USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) (not shown), showing various USN aircraft assigned to embarked Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW 8) flying in formation over head as the ship is underway conducting operations in the Mediterranean Sea

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.