Considering the mission, and our opposition, I believe this may be a test bed for "Hard Mode". It wouldn't surprise me if Hard Mode for Newport, Aegis, KW and RR would restrict you to Allied ships; UF and Narai would restrict you to Axis. In a way, it does make since considering the opposition we face in them. Two weeks of it being tested isn't a bad idea, but if this isn't the case, then they should lift the restriction next week when another Op would cycle. We'll see. However, If I read the notes correctly, Hermes will stay up until the next big patch.
My machine is by no means a potato, far from in fact, but I'm occasionally getting very serious FPS drops every now and again during the Op. Some runs, not a hitch, other's I have horrid FPS issues. They need to optimize, badly.