Onboard the US Navy (USN) NIMITZ CLASS: Aircraft Carrier, USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN73), USN Aviation Structural Mechanic Third Class (AM3) Hezekiah Crandall, uses an air sander to finish the intake of an USN F-14B Tomcat aircraft while operating in the Arabian Sea, during 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.