A starboard beam view of the guided missile destroyer USS ARLEIGH BURKE (DDG-51) underway en route to the Adriatic Sea. The vessel is part of a battle group that will replace the aircraft carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV-67) battle group currently assisting in maintaining the U.N. mandated no-fly zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina

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.