On November 14, 1910, pilot Eugene Burton Ely took off in a Curtiss plane from the bow of and later landed a Curtiss Model D on on January 18, 1911. In fiscal year (FY) 1920, Congress approved a conversion of collier into a ship designed for launching and recovering of airplanes at sea—the first aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. More aircraft carriers were approved and built, including , the first class of aircraft carriers in the United States Navy designed and built as aircraft carriers from the keel.
The United States declared war on Japan following the attack of December 7, 1941, on Pearl Harbor. The two nations revolutionized naval warfare in the course of the next four years; several of the most important sea battles were fought without either fleet coming within sight of the other. Most of the fleet carriers were built according to prewar designs, but the demand for air protection was so intense that two new classes were developed: light carriers (designated CVL), built on modified cruiser hulls, and escort carriers (CVE), whose main function was to protect Atlantic convoys from German U-boats.
During the postwar period, carrier technology made many advances. The angled flight deck was adopted in 1955. The first "supercarrier" was commissioned in 1955 (although an earlier plan had been canceled by the Secretary of Defense), and the first nuclear-powered carrier in 1961, all during the Cold War. Also, a record for crossing the Pacific Ocean was set by a U.S. Navy carrier during the Korean War. Carriers recovered spacecraft after splashdown, including the Mercury-Redstone 3 and Apollo 11 missions.
The lead ship of a new class, the , was launched in 2013 and was commissioned in 2017. The last conventionally powered (non-nuclear) US Navy carrier was decommissioned in 2007.
Pre–World War II
On November 14, 1910, a 24‑year‑old civilian pilot, Eugene Burton Ely, took off in a 50 horsepower Curtiss plane from a wooden platform built over the bow of the cruiser ; later, on January 18, 1911, Ely landed a Curtiss Model D on a platform aboard . The Naval Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1920 provided funds for the conversion of into a ship designed for the launching and recovery of airplanes at sea—the United States Navy's first aircraft carrier.
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!style="background-color:#ffffff;" | Lead Ship
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|CV-1
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|Hornet was built after Wasp. Because a large fraction of the navy's battleship fleet was put out of commission by the attack, the undamaged aircraft carriers were forced to become the load-bearers of the early part of the war. The first aircraft carrier offensive of the U.S. Navy came on February 1, 1942, when the carriers Enterprise and Yorktown, attacked the Japanese bases in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. The new designations were CVB (Aircraft carrier, large) for the carriers being built, and CVL (Aircraft carriers, small) for the class built on light cruiser hulls.
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!style="background-color:#ffffff;width:100px;" | Active
!style="background-color:#ffffff;" | Description
!style="background-color:#ffffff;" | Lead Ship
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|CV-9
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|1942 – 1991
|This class constituted the 20th century's largest class of heavy warships, with 24 ships built. 32 ships were originally ordered, but some were cancelled. (Some sources consider the 13 ships of the a separate class or "long hull" variants of the Essex class, and Oriskany a one-ship class).
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|CVL-22
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|2017–present
|The next generation supercarrier for the United States Navy. Escort carriers, based on merchant ship hulls, were smaller than aircraft carriers; escort carrier crews referred to the ships as "Jeep carriers", the press called them "baby flat tops".
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