Family members and friends gather on the pier to greet crewmen of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65) upon their return from a Western Pacific deployment. A Kidd class guided missile destroyer is visible in the background

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.