Going back to the offer of an LPH/Carrier in 82 for a moment, if I may -
The US offered a carrier - to be manned by the RN - if required. This, at least, is the recollection of Admiral Leach, Admiral Woodward and John Nott (and other senior defence bods of the time) from a seminar held at the Staff College in 2002.
I suspect that while the destination for Kitty Hawk might have seemed obvious, the FI weren't actually the intended destination - or that this was a bit of maskirovska (sp?) being employed against the Argentines and/or the Soviets.
Admiral Leach and John Nott were very clear that the US offer was for equipment only, and not US manpower (this was not a criticism of the US stance - one of them called the offer 'incredibly generous', IIRC).