I believe the disparity in the old days (when the RN had CTOL carriers) between RN and USN aircraft compliment numbers arose because the RN only counted the aircraft it could stow away in the armoured hangers, whereas the USN counted everything in the hangar plus the deck park?
I've often wondered why the Vinnys didn't get a deck overhang so that a squadron of SHARs could be stowed on deck whilst leaving the runway clear?
Something like this:
