Flight deck crewmen aboard the aircraft carrier USS MIDWAY (CV-41) are silhouetted against the early morning sky as the ship prepares to get underway for its final day at sea. The MIDWAY, which recently returned to San Diego after being based in Japan for 18 years, will be decommissioned in the Spring of 1992

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.