Actually those choc heals DID heal my ship... not sure about the girls tho since there was one run with only a choc heal between big bosses.
Without that ship heal I would have lost for sure.

Also I think I did have lavender in one of my squads but not the first one.

- - - Updated - - -

Before I forget, did anyone keep track of the rewards for each whale ship mission? not the bonuses but the actual mission rewards.

I didn't and It's not on the wiki yet so i'm not sure which mission is most efficient.