With the jet blast deflector raised behind it, an A-7E Corsair aircraft from Attack Squadron 72 (VA-72) ready for launch from the aircraft carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV-67) during Operation Desert Shield. The aircraft is carrying an AGM-62 Walleye I television-guided glide bomb

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.