NORFOLK, Va. — The Navy will permanently move five Virginia Beach-based ships, a maintenance crew and the squadron’s command staff to Bahrain beginning next week, officials said Friday.

The movement of patrol coastal ships is being made to meet mission requirements set by the U.S. Fifth Fleet and Central Command, said Lt. Cmdr. Brian Badura, a U.S. Fleet Forces Command spokesman.

The speedy ships can operate in shallow water and perform interdiction surveillance. Each is armed with automatic grenade launchers and a variety of machine guns.

The U.S. possesses 13 of the ships and five of them are already based in Bahrain, home of the Fifth Fleet. The Navy had been manning those ships with different crews that rotated in every six months. But those ships will also be assigned crews that will be based in Bahrain year-round, allowing sailors to move their families there.

“The shift alleviates the significant strain placed on the crews and their families while ensuring capacity and capability,” the Navy said in a statement announcing the move.

The USS Tempest, USS Squall and USS Thunderbolt will leave Virginia Beach on Tuesday and arrive in Manama, Bahrain this summer.

Two other ships are expected to transfer by the spring of 2014. The Navy says three patrol coastal ships will remain stationed in Virginia Beach.

Each ship has a crew of four officers and 24 enlisted personnel. Another 122 personnel attached to a maintenance support team and the staff of Patrol Coastal Squadron One will also relocate to Bahrain.

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