A US Navy (USN) F/A-18C Hornet, Strike Fighter Squadron 106 (VFA-106), Gladiators, Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana, Virginia (VA), launches from the flight deck aboard the USN Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN 75). The TRUMAN is currently conducting carrier qualifications and sustainment operations off of the East Coast

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.