Aerial port bow view of the US Navy (USN) NIMITZ CLASS: Aircraft Carrier, USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76), underway through the Strait of Magellan on her way to the Pacific Ocean. The Reagan and its crew are circumnavigating South America in transit to their new homeport at San Diego, California (CA)

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.