(L to R) Aviation Ordnance Second Class (AO2) Claude Tedrow, Aviation Ordnance Second Class AIRMAN (AOAN) Mike Collier, and Aviation Ordnance Third Class (AO3) John Dunbar perform preventative maintenance on an M-61 20mm cannon off of an F/A 18C Hornet aircraft on the flight deck of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS CARL VINSON (CVN-70) underway during a WESTPAC deployment

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.