your timeline is a little off
the EAPS filters were removed for 5% more horsepower, not range
http://rescueattempt.tripod.com
You are correct. The helos were put on the Nimitz in Naples over the Christmas hoilidays. Rescue attempt went in late April. I was writing from 25 year old memory, I should have checked. (Time moves at a different rate when you are just driving around in circles in the middle of the ocean for that long a time.)
The helo guys I talked to on the hangar bay said the screens were removed for the range.