US Navy (USN) F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft, assigned to the "Checkmates" of Strike Fighter Squadron 211 (VFA-211), are signaled to throttle up before being launched from the flight deck aboard the USN Nimitz Class, Aircraft Carrier USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65). The ENTERPRISE and embarked Carrier Air Wing 1 (CVW-1) are currently underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting a Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPUTEX)

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.