An aircraft handler directs a CV-22 Osprey, attached to the Black Birds of 8th Special Operation Squadron, U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command, during touch-and-goes on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5).

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.