An enlisted flight-deck director guides and F-14A Tomcat aircraft of Fighter Squadron 101 (VF-101) onto the number one catapult onboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN-73) during carrier qualifications off the Virginia Capes. Other flight deck crewmen check the aircraft's wheel alignment with the catapult track

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.