A carrier battle group (CVBG) is a naval fleet consisting of an aircraft carrier capital ship and its large number of escorts, together defining the group. The CV in CVBG is the United States Navy hull classification code for an aircraft carrier.
The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier battle group during the 2000 RIMPAC exercise
A flotilla from the Indian Navy's Western Fleet escorts the aircraft carriers INS Viraat and INS Vikramaditya through the Arabian Sea in 2014.
HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) and her Carrier Strike Group during Exercise Westlant 19.
USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group sails in formation for a strike group photo in the Caribbean Sea 29 April 2006. Such a formation, referred to derisively as the "bullseye" formation, would not be used in combat.
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Carriers have evolved since their inception in the early twentieth century from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons to nuclear-powered warships that carry numerous fighters, strike aircraft, helicopters, and other types of aircraft. While heavier aircraft such as fixed-wing gunships and bombers have been launched from aircraft carriers, these aircraft have not landed on a carrier. By its diplomatic and tactical power, its mobility, its autonomy and the variety of its means, the aircraft carrier is often the centerpiece of modern combat fleets. Tactically or even strategically, it replaced the battleship in the role of flagship of a fleet. One of its great advantages is that, by sailing in international waters, it does not interfere with any territorial sovereignty and thus obviates the need for overflight authorizations from third-party countries, reduces the times and transit distances of aircraft and therefore significantly increases the time of availability on the combat zone.
Four modern aircraft carriers of various types—USS John C. Stennis, Charles de Gaulle (French Navy), USS John F. Kennedy, helicopter carrier HMS Ocean—and escort vessels, 2002
Comparison of aircraft carriers
French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (rear), and US Navy carrier USS Ronald Reagan conducting joint operations in the Persian Gulf; both with the CATOBAR configuration.
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) a United States Navy fleet carrier, also often referred to as a supercarrier, seen here underway in 2019 crossing the Atlantic.