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. 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 increase the time of availability on the combat zone.
Here are the top 10 largest aircraft carriers in the world.
| Rank | Aircraft carrier | Country | Full load displacement |
| 1. | Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier | United States | 100,000 tonnes |
| 2. | Nimitz-class aircraft carrier | United States | 97,000 tonnes |
| 3. | Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier | United Kingdom | 65,000 tonnes |
| 4. | Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier | Russia | 58,500 tonnes |
| 5. | Liaoning aircraft carrier | China | 58,000 tonnes |
| 6. | INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier | India | 44,500 tonnes |
| 7. | Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier | France | 42,000 tonnes |
| 8. | São Paulo aircraft carrier | Brazil | 32,000 tonnes |
| 9. | Cavour aircraft carrier | Italy | 30,000 tonnes |
| 10. | INS Viraat aircraft carrier | India | 28,700 tonnes |
