More helos would've helped as well: OPSEC concerns meant that only eight went aboard U.S.S. Nimitz (CVN-68). Not fear of alerting the Iranians per se, but if the GRU noted more than eight helos on the carrier, they might have guessed the reason for those choppers, and possibly alerted the Iranians. Mission planners early on wanted at least twelve birds, and some even wanted sixteen (some would have been reserve assets).