Onboard the US Navy (USN) Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76) Flight Deck Officer, USN Lieutenant (LT) Derek Jensen, directs an F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft across the flight deck and into launch position. The REAGAN and embarked Carrier Air Wing 14 (CVW-14) are currently underway in the Persian Gulf, on a deployment conducting Maritime Security Operations (MOS) in support of the global war on terrorism

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.