Onboard the US Navy (USN) Aircraft Carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) USN Hull Technician Second Class (HT2) Sylvester Woods (foreground) leads a fire hose team during a drill conducted inside the hangar bay. Currently underway in the 7th Fleet Area Of Responsibility (AOR), The KITTY HAWK demonstrates power projection and sea control as the USN only permanently, forward-deployed aircraft carrier

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.