An US Navy (USN) F-14D Tomcat aircraft launches from the flight deck of the USN NIMITZ CLASS: Aircraft Carrier USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) as Carrier Air Wing Fourteen (CVW 14) conducts flight operation in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM

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.