During the WWI era, 1918 circa, the US Navy was heavily into "Air-Ships" (balloons, aka blimps). USN ships were built, modified, or used for "Air-Ship" operations. When propeller powered airplanes came about during the same time period, the USN had to categorize a way to tell the difference between an AirShip vessel and a propeller driven airplane vessel. The Blimp was obviously light than air, and the prop plane was obviously heavier than air, so the letter "V" indicated "Heavier than Air" warship. Bearing in mind that both a Blimp and Airplane carrying vessel are both AIRCRAFT carriers.
Submarines and Aircraft Carriers
None were necessary since the British Isles provided plentiful air bases. However, in the Mediterranean theater, US escort carriers (aka jeep carriers or CVE's) were used to support amphibious landings. These were small aircraft carriers capable of operating about 30 aircraft each, which left the larger US fleet carriers with 70-80 aircraft each available for the Pacific theater.
They are names of US aircraft carriers,
Northrop Grumman
American Aircraft Carriers are built by Newport News Shipbuilding, which is a subsidiary of Northrop Grumond.
The CV indicates an Aircraft Carrier. The A at the end indicates it is designed for Attack use. The US Navy does not currently have any CVAs.
US Navy Aircraft Carriers normally operated US Navy aircraft flown by US Navy pilots; however sometimes during WW2 these aircraft carriers had US Army Air Force or US Marine Corps aircraft on-board to be flown-off by Army or Marine pilots. This was for ferrying operations. These aircraft would take off from the carriers but land on an airfield. Army pilots were not trained to land on carriers, neither were the Army aircraft equipped for carrier landings. US Marine pilots & Marine aircraft could operate from carriers if necessary, until they could be established at an airfield.
US aircraft carriers
The US Navy currently has 11 Carriers and a 12th currently undergoing pre-commissioning trials.
Nimitz
Aircraft carriers are a long range striking arm of a naval air force. Used properly they can decimate enemy fleets as the US carrier fleet did at Midway to the Japanese. In the Atlantic, British aircraft carriers were decisive to hunting down German ships. Not having aircraft carriers was possibly one of the biggest mistakes for the German navy.
No. The first aircraft carriers they constructed were laid down in 1965. They were late in getting into carrier production, and still have none of the US class carriers.