The US Navy (USN) Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN 75) makes her final approach prior to going alongside the Military Sealift Command (MSC) Replenishment Oiler USNS GUADALUPE (T-AO 200), in order to perform a underway replenishment in the Persian Gulf, in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM

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.