Onboard the US Navy (USN) Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76), USN CHIEF Operations SPECIALIST (OSC) Geronimo Lagasca (left) and an unidentified USN Sailor (right) concentrate on their radar screens as they communicate with aircraft during their air defense weapons coordinators watch in the Combat Direction Center (CDC). The REAGAN and Carrier Air Wing Fourteen (CVW 14) are currently deployed in the Persian Gulf supporting maritime security operations in the region

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.