Mark 82 general purpose bombs, left, and Mark 82 high-drag Snakeye bombs rest on weapons skids near an ordnance elevator in the hangar bay of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN-71)

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.