Onboard the US Navy (USN) Aircraft Carrier, USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65), Ship's Surgeon, USN Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Michael Barker (center), and ships SENIOR Medical Officer Commander (CDR) David Gibson (left), perform an emergency laparoscopic appendectomy on a patient, while the ship is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting a Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX)

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.