Maybe the Ark Royal's problems and costs that had her scrapped might, just might, have been lessened if the story I heard in Devonport in the 1970's is true.
The story goes that the Dockyard knew that one of the carriers being refitted would probably end up being scrapped. The best hull was Eagle so all the best fittings went into Eagle and the worst into Ark Royal. Then came the announcement that it was Eagle that was to be scrapped. No one had the courage to tell MoD that they had paid for a carrier to be refitted with rubbish. There was even talk of how they might disguise one as the other and keep Eagle.
Now Eagle in the 1980's would be Phantom/Gannet so the task would be so much easier. If Hermes were still in service then it would be pure helicopter so, with these and a probable unsunk Atlantic Conveyor there would have been a usable troop lift capacity to move whole units forward and for a forward operating base for the GR8 Harriers on land.