An interior view of the hangar bay aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS NIMITZ (CVN-68). The parked RH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters are being readied for Operation Evening Light, a rescue mission to Iran

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.