A U.S. Navy Pilot assigned to the"Tigertails"of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 125, inspects an E-2C Hawkeye before flight operations aboard the Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69), in the Arabian Sea, Nov. 22, 2006. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication SPECIALIST SEAMAN David Danals) (Released)

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.