Aerial view of the US Navy (USN) Nimitz Class; Aircraft Carrier, USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76), showing Sailors manning the rails and forming the initials RWR on the flight deck as the ship enters San Diego harbor for a home porting celebration, welcoming the ship to San Diego, California (CA), and officially joining the US Pacific Fleet

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.