Three flattops will settle into their new homes and one will make its fleet debut in 2016.
When the aircraft carrier George Washington pulled into the Norfolk yards on Dec. 17, it marked the final step of a three-carrier homeport shift launched back in March.
The switch sees GW back stateside from Japan for a mid-life refueling, the Theodore Roosevelt trading the East Coast for San Diego, and Ronald Reagan bidding farewell to Southern California for its new home in Yokosuka.
About 9,000 sailors were part of the move, but most of them didn't have to PCS. More than half stayed at their duty stations and transferred to the newly arrived carriers.
And for 1,407 of them, dubbed the "Three Presidents crew," it meant a year serving aboard three different ships, as they swapped hulls to move the ships to their new homeports and then returned home.
As part of the move, Reagan and Washington swapped crews and command master chiefs in August, but each carrier's commanding and executive officers stayed on board.
While the Navy aimed to keep sailors in their existing homes, sailors were asked for their preference, Cmdr. Jeannie Groeneveld, spokeswoman for Naval Air Forces, told Navy Times. Some volunteered to move, including roughly 800 members of the TR's crew, who stayed in San Diego when the carrier returned from deployment in November.
March will bring a milestone for the next phase in aircraft carriers, as the Gerald Ford delivery kicks off sea trials, commissioning and the ship's first electromagnetic catapults and arrested-landings with piloted aircraft, Groeneveld said.
