A Military Sealift Command fleet oiler USNS TIPPECANOE (TAO 199) conducts a replenishment at sea with the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS NIMITZ (CVN 68). Nimitz and her embarked air wing are deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of UN sanctions against Iraq to enforce the No-Fly Zone over southern Iraq under Operation Southern Watch

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.