Aviation Boatswain's Mate AIRMAN Burnett Kilgore lowers the Union Jack as the auxiliary aircraft landing training ship USS LEXINGTON (AVT 160) prepares to get underway for the last time from the naval air station (NAS). The LEXINGTON is moving its home to the Port of Pensacola, from which it will operate until the multi-purpose aircraft carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) takes over the training carrier role at NAS 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.