An air-to-air side view of an RF-4C Phantom II aircraft and two F-15 Eagle aircraft, assigned to the 18th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying over the Soviet Kiev class aircraft carrier MINSK and the replenishment tanker OLEKMA during Exercise OSTFRIESLAND II

Cold War era aerial photographs of the Soviet Kiev class aircraft carriers made by US Navy pilots.

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.