US Navy (USN) Aviation Warfare System Operator Third Class (AW3) Victor Eguez, stands in the crew door of a USN SH-60B "Seahawk" helicopter attached to Helicopter Anti Submarine Squadron Light Four 7 (HSL-47) during an air power demonstration conducted from the USN Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) (not shown). The LINCOLN and Carrier Air Wing 2 (CVW-2) are currently underway in the Western Pacific Ocean operating area

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.