A Fighter Squadron 32 (VF-32) F-14A Tomcat aircraft, foreground, flies alongside a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft while waiting to conduct an in-flight refueling with a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft during Operation Desert Shield. VF-32 is based aboard the aircraft carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV-67), which is operating in the Red Sea

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.