An aviation ordnanceman secures a Mark 82 500-pound bomb to the wing pylon of an A-7E Corsair II aircraft aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69). The aircraft is assigned to Attack Squadron 72 (VA-72)

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.