A starboard view of the US Navy (USN) Arleigh Burke Class Guided Missile Destroyer, USS SHOUP (DDG 86) underway in the Pacific Ocean (POC) as it prepares to come alongside the USN Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) to conduct a Replenishment at Sea (RAS)

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.