A plane captain performing maintenance reaches into the cockpit of an A-7E Corsair aircraft from Attack Squadron 46 (VA-46) on the busy flight deck of the US Navy (USN) Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69). The Corsair has an AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile mounted on its fuselage"cheek"pylon

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.