Portsmouth, Va....A sailor works on a telephone switch box aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) while the ship is undergoing a six-month selected restricted availability at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTO (RELEASED)

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.