Visiting Indonesian Officials observe from the cunning tower aboard the USN Navy (USN) Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72), as a climactic flight formation of USN aircraft fly overhead, during a sea and airpower demonstration. The LINCOLN and Carrier Air Wing Two (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.