Nice try the Falklands story. But it does remind me of a couple of silly little tales - maybe someone can fill in the gaps?
In '82 at the height of the fighting a friend whose father had flown Gannets in the FAA told my friends and I that 'father was approached and asked how he felt about the feasibility of a Gannet being flown from one of the carriers. He said it probably couldn't be done but he volunteered to have a go... without a catapult'.
My circle of friends were in awe of this until another friend said that HIS father, also ex-FAA, said that Gannets weren't catapulted. So can some kind veteran tell me: was the Gannet catapulted or not? I rather assumed it would have been. I was too naïve in those days to ask about the ski-ramp on Hermes and Invincible, which I imagine would have interfered with the smooth departure of an un-catapulted Gannet...
The same (possibly unreliable) friend told me that the old Bulwark, already an engineless hulk, was comandeered from the breakers yard and was being prepared to be towed South as a 'static' aircraft carrier in the event that Hermes or Invincible were sunk. Again, any truth?