I was wondering...
did they normally keep all the aircraft on the deck or did they do that to look cool for the port call?
Unless entering a port in the U.S. they usually stay on board. Most ports aren’t deep enough or secure enough for the carrier to go pier side so they anchor out about a mile and stay steaming. If needed they can have the ship underway in less than two minutes. I’ve seen it done before when we anchored in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. An Alpine Express storm hit us broadside and we drug anchor. The Captain began yelling “Get the &&&& ship underway and do it now”. We had anchor coming up and screws in full reverse ship moving in less than two minutes. I’d say a launch could be done in less than five if needed.