RE: the Doolittle raids, if the sea had been calm, they couldn’t have launched. A calm sea means no wind, and even with the Hornet at flank speed, the B-25s couldn’t get up enough airspeed to get airborne in time. So the Hornet had to be steaming into a pretty healthy wind — which means choppy seas — to get off in that distance.
The last bit of airspeed needed to get aloft was achieved from their drop off the end of the carrier. Doolittle went first, confident in his precise calculations, and he’d told the drop would happen. The second pilot saw the plane vanish for a few seconds, but in interview years later said, if Jimmy did it, I sure as hell will do it too. :^)