A view of the bulbous bow of the Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier, USS NIMITZ (CVN 68), while the ship sits in the graving dock area of the dry dock facilities at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington (WA)

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.