Depends on the costs involved with moving dependents.
There are 3200 sailors (ships company, not airwing) deployed to Japan on Washingon. Another 3200 in Norfolk on Roosevelt and yet another 3200 on Reagan in San Diego.
Keeping the crews with their ships would entail moving those 9600 sailors’ households to the ships’ new homeports. Iow logistically difficult and prohibitively expensive.
I could see that. When I was in the Navy, they tried to keep you at one duty station for your entire career to save money on relocation costs.
I don’t think that’s an illogical concern, but why now?
Why never before? If this was such a great concern, it would have been at other times too.
Why relocate the families? The crews are at sea for months at a time. When they come back to port, they can travel home.
How have they done it in the past? What has changed?