The combat support ship USS Detroit (AOE-4) steams alongside the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-60) during an underway replenishment as part of a 1992 Mediterranean deployment. Refueling hoses can be seen passed between the two ships. The destroyer USS Comte De Grasse (DD-974) is in the background awaiting her turn to refuel

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.