A C-2 Greyhound aircraft after landing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67). The aircraft is being used to transport the body of Lieutenant (LT) Mark Adam Lange back to the US. LT Lange was killed when his A-6 aircraft was shot down during a bombing raid over Lebanon

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.