Two US Navy (USN) Sailors man a.50 cal machine gun station as they stand watch onboard the Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71), while the carrier is underway through the Suez Canal on its way to a regularly scheduled deployment to conduct Maritime Security Operations (MSO) in the Mediterranean Sea

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.