"It will rot and get trashed in fairly short order"
Well they seem happy to operate Lynx and Apaches off the deck of Albion / Bulwark for prolonged periods without any kind of hangar at all. Wonder how long they'll last. Memories of the Wessex that went to the Falklands "on top" of the merchant ships. When they got back to Yeovilton many of the airframes were so badly corroded they were scrapped on arrival. And they were built a damn sight stronger than the Merlins are