An elevated starboard bow view of the fleet oiler USS CALOOSAHATCHEE (AO-98) during an underway replenishment of the aircraft carrier USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN-69) and the guided missile frigate USS JACK WILLIAMS (FFG-24)

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.