Logistics Specialist 3rd Class Nicholas Wilson, from South Hampton, N.Y., processes mail on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). Ronald Reagan is moored and homeported at Naval Base Coronado.

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.