The Fleet Response Plan (FRP) cycle drives the deployment tempo. The basic FRP design says that in a 27 month period, the ship/air wing combination goes through a six-month maintenance phase, a three month basic (unit training) phase and a three month intermediate (integrated training/air wing Fallon) phase, after which the ship/air wing becomes surge ready and enters the sustainment phase (15 months). Deployment(s) are designed to occur anywhere in the 15 month sustainment cycle. Finally, in NAVADMIN 051/07 the CNO revised deployment doctrine and replaced turn-around ratio with dwell time. Good overview of this concept at:
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=28461
Bottom line: The business end of what we do occurs haze, gray, and underway.