BREMERTON — Kitsap County gained the equivalent of a small town with the arrival Tuesday of the USS Nimitz from Naval Station Everett.

The aircraft will undergo 16 months of repairs and upgrades at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility.

The Navy authorized the ship’s 2,931 sailors to temporarily shift their home port to Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton so they could move here and not spend so much time away from their families. About 1,900 did.

Many stayed behind because they own a home or their spouse works on the other side of Puget Sound. There are 2,931 different situations, said Capt. John Ring, Nimitz commanding officer.

The Navy will provide buses to transport them back and forth via state ferries. It’s a difficult lifestyle, said Ring, who had been making the reverse commute since moving to Bremerton in May.

“I think it’s a production benefit and a quality-of-life benefit,” Ring said of the change of home port. “Most of them don’t have to commute five hours a day so you can get a full day of work out of them.”

Between on-base and off-base family housing and barracks for single sailors, adequate homes were found for all but 180 of them. They’ll be put up on a white barge near the ship for now. With two aircraft carriers based in Bremerton, Nimitz and USS John C. Stennis, there’s not enough to go around.

One hundred fifty-three families chose Navy public-private housing and another 40 were in the process last week when the ship originally was scheduled to arrive, said Naval Base Kitsap spokeswoman Silvia Klatman.

Others opted for private housing in what already was a tight market. The Kitsap vacancy rate dropped from 4.5 percent to 4.0 percent in the fourth quarter, according to industry tracker Apartment Insider. The rate was 5.0 percent a year ago. The average monthly rent rose $4 from the third quarter, to $928, and increased $29 from the start of 2014.

The $240 million project at PSNS is what the Navy calls a Planned Incremental Availability.

The move from Naval Station Everett was delayed a week because of a maintenance issue on the ship, according to the Navy.

The $240 million project will be split, with General Dynamics NASSCO performing non-nuclear work, the shipyard doing the nuclear jobs and the ship’s crew helping out with such tasks as painting, tiling and berthing improvements. The Navy couldn’t afford it without their work, Ring said.

It will be the last significant modernization of the 40-year-old ship, which has a life span of 50.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. “We’re excited to get started so we can get back to the water and do what we do. We firmly believe the nation needs us out there keeping peace in the world, so we need to get this maintenance through.”

During the long stay, Nimitz sailors will be farmed out to other West Coast carriers to stay proficient in their jobs.

The Nimitz didn’t just show up and everything was ready for nearly 3,000 new people.

“I know the base and the community welcome the Nimitz,” Capt. Thomas Zwolfer said. “We prepared very hard the last six months for their arrival.”

Ring is urging his sailors to gear up and get out. Get out and see what the Kitsap Peninsula has to offer. They don’t even need a car to enjoy Seattle. Ship, shipmate and self is his motto.

“I want them to do something for the ship, something for a shipmate and something for themselves every day,” he said. “If they do that, we’ll get through this quickly. The ship will be ready to go and they’ll be ready to go.”