In the meantime, with nearly a third of the fleet deployed or returning from wartime service, it may take up to six months before the Navy could deploy a similar force to handle another large-scale contingency, such as operations against a hostile North Korea.

"We'll be re-cocked and ready to go as early as December," said Vice Adm. Timothy LaFleur, who oversees the Navy's surface warships from his local headquarters.

In the near term, many sailors will be away from home longer than six months. But Navy officials are working to shorten deployments to the half-year standard that has been in place for nearly 20 years.

As the Navy sent seven aircraft carriers to Iraq, top brass realized that the old system of keeping two carriers deployed at any time was fine for peacetime but wasn't responsive enough for wartime needs, officials said.

So instead of simultaneously keeping two or more carrier groups on overseas deployments, the Navy may switch to "surge" operations in which up to six carriers – half the flattops in the Navy fleet – could steam to a trouble spot on short notice.

"We have changed our thinking," said Vice Adm. Mike Malone, the San Diego-based admiral who oversees training, maintenance and personnel for the Navy's carriers and air units.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark, in San Diego today, is likely to discuss future plans for ship deployments when he speaks to officers and sailors here.

Clark will visit the cruisers Mobile Bay and Shiloh, which recently returned from the Persian Gulf to the San Diego Naval Station at 32nd Street.

The Iraq war disrupted the Navy's master deployment schedule for carriers, amphibious ships and other warships. Some warships had their at-sea assignments extended, while several dozen others were sent to the Persian Gulf on short notice.

For the near future, many overseas deployments will continue to surpass the six-month mark, Malone said.

The aircraft carrier Lincoln set a post-Vietnam deployment record when it completed a nearly 10-month deployment this month. The San Diego-based flattop Constellation and its seven escort ships will be gone about seven months before returning home next month.

The Washington state-based carrier Vinson, along with the cruiser Antietam and destroyer Lassen, both San Diego-based ships, will be deployed for more than 290 days, Navy officials confirmed yesterday.

With so many ships returning from the war in coming months, defense analyst Patrick Garrett said the Navy may be hard-pressed to quickly deploy again.

"If something were to crop up in two or three months with North Korea, there is a good chance much of the Navy would be in the shipyards," said the analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia-based think tank.

Navy officials say they will be ready to respond to trouble spots.

"This isn't a peacetime Navy anymore. It's a wartime Navy now," Garrett said.

Under the deployment strategy being developed, the Navy would likely station fewer warships in the Persian Gulf and Western Pacific but keep more aircraft carriers fully trained and primed for deployment.

By shortening training and maintenance periods and rearranging schedules, Malone predicted the Navy would be able to quickly surge six carriers to a hot spot, with two more carriers following soon afterward.