A view from onboard the US Navy (USN) NIMITZ CLASS: Aircraft Carrier USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76), showing Sailors manning the rails as the ship prepares to get underway at Naval Station (NS) Norfolk, Virginia (VA). In the background a commercial tugboat give a water salute as the ARLEIGH BURKE CLASS: (FLIGHT I) Guided Missile Destroyer (Aegis), USS COLE (DDG 67), passes astern

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.