Just to be clear, the planned Nov 10 Ark Royal deployment was when the Harrier Force was due to get its 'rubber stamp' as having a deployable night CVS capability, but as we all know that never happened.
Throughout the Herrick years JFH's CVS capability declined, quite understandably, to a level that was dangerously low. You could count the number of night LSO's on one hand excluding your thumb! The point I make is that there is a big difference between having a few guys who now and then can pop on and off the 'boat' and having a genuine fully deployed maritime capability. Without wishing to sound like a stuck recored JFH was in the process of regenerating that, but that took time and effort in the post Herrick stand-down.