Part of a shipment of mail sits on a deck edge elevator with a pair of Attack Squadron 75 (VA-75) A-6E Intruder aircraft aboard the aircraft carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV-67) during Operation Desert Shield. Approximately 41,000 pounds of mail was delivered to the KENNEDY in this one shipment

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.