A petty officer watches the air station slip away as the auxiliary aircraft landing training ship USS LEXINGTON (AVT 16) heads out into Pensacola Bay. The LEXINGTON is shifting its home port from the air station to the Port of Pensacola, from which it will operate until the multi-purpose aircraft carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) arrives to take over the training carrier role at Naval Air Station, Pensacola

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.