The two-carrier presence in the gulf was clearly a temporary measure, most certainly not the historical norm, and it was known all along that it was unsustainable in the long run given CVN yard schedules.

The only way to sustain that without pulling a boat out of some other part of the world would be to buy a twelfth carrier. You'd probably need 13 if you wanted to get deployments back down to anything like 6 months.