US Navy (USN) MASTER-at-Arms Second Class (MA2) Kenneth Akers fires a 7.62 mm general purpose machine gun onboard the Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) in order to hone his marksmanship skills during a small arms live-fire weapons familiarization exercise

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.