Capt. Dan Cloyd, left, salutes Capt. Dee Mewbourne after being relieved as commanding officer of the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69).

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.