A motion picture crew from the Naval Audiovisual Center (NAVC), Washington, District of Columbia films activities aboard the aircraft carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67). Mr. Thomas Garvey, (left foreground) Division Head, Motion Media Department, NAVC, stands by the camera crew as supervisor

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.