U.S. Navy Sailors inspect the starboard anchor after it was lowered from the Kitty Hawk Class Aircraft Carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) onto a barge in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, on Jan. 16, 2007. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication SPECIALIST 3rd Class Juan Antoine King) (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.