Editing Aircraft carrier (section)

===By role===
[[File:USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) underway in the Atlantic Ocean on 30 January 2019 (190130-N-PW716-1312).JPG|thumb|{{USS|Abraham Lincoln|CVN-72}}, a [[United States Navy]] fleet carrier, also often referred to as a supercarrier, crossing the Atlantic in 2019]]

A [[fleet carrier]] is intended to operate with the main fleet and usually provides an offensive capability. These are the largest carriers capable of fast speeds. By comparison, [[escort carrier]]s were developed to provide defense for convoys of ships. They were smaller and slower with lower numbers of aircraft carried. Most were built from mercantile hulls or, in the case of [[merchant aircraft carrier]]s, were bulk cargo ships with a flight deck added on top. [[Light aircraft carrier]]s were fast enough to operate with the main fleet but of smaller size with reduced aircraft capacity.

The Soviet aircraft carrier ''[[Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov|Admiral Kusnetsov]]'' was termed a "heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser". This was primarily a legal construct to avoid the limitations of the [[Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits#Aircraft carriers|Montreux Convention]] preventing 'aircraft carriers' transiting the [[Turkish Straits]] between the Soviet [[Black Sea]] bases and the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. These ships, while sized in the range of large fleet carriers, were designed to deploy alone or with escorts. In addition to supporting fighter aircraft and helicopters, they provide both strong defensive weaponry and heavy offensive missiles equivalent to a guided-missile cruiser.