US Navy (USN) Sailors on the USN Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) wait for the command to heave their line during an underway replenishment with the Military Sealift Command (MSC) underway replenishment Oiler USNS WALTER S. DIEHL (T-AO 193) (not shown)

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.