U.S. Navy Aviation Warfare SPECIALIST Second Class Lee Lyons, assigned to the Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 26, waits to release cargo while conducting Vertical Replenishment drills with the Military Sealift Command Kilauea Class Ammunition Ship, USNS MOUNT BAKER (T-AE 34) from the Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) in the Atlantic Ocean, Dec. 17, 2006. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication SPECIALIST SEAMAN Zach Hernandez) (Released)

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.