An aerial port bow view of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN-69) tied up at one of the service piers at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Corporation Shipyard. The IKE is nearing completion of an extensive overhaul and will return to service in December

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.