U.S. Navy LT. Kyle Beahan (right), a flight deck shooter, signals to the catapult operator that an aircraft is ready to launch off the flight deck of the Kitty Hawk Class Aircraft Carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) on Dec. 7, 2006, while the KITTY HAWK and its Strike Group are on a regularly scheduled deployment into the Philippine Sea. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication SPECIALIST SEAMAN Stephen W. Rowe) (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.