Lofty,
The reason people bang on about hangarage at Heron is that it was (supposedly) a major issue against moving the CH47 force there a decade ago; the recently vacated SHar hangars were apparently too short to accommodate a CH47 during a Xmsn change. A Merlin is taller than a CH47....that it fitted into the hangar deck of a CVS is irrelevant.
If the RAF get a further CH47 buy in the next decade then palming off the Merlin will seem like good business by giving them the correct Large/Medium mix (with Puma) rather than the Large size/cost and medium performance of the Merlin - a situation that will not improve by adding a whole load of marinisation weight in.
I do look forward to seeing the first graduates of Bismark's 4 week OCU!
Banter aside, we should applaud the efforts of all at Benson (RAF/CHF) who've behaved with dignity throughout all of the uncertainty and are delivering Transition earlier than forecast whilst still delivering Op output in Herrick until quite recently.