The assistant catapult and arresting gear officer stands by at the bow catapult control station as an Airborne Early Warning Squadron 126 (VAW-126) E-2C Hawkeye aircraft unfolds its wings prior to being launched from the aircraft carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV-67) during Fleet Ex 1-90

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.