[Boomer 2019]

Aircraft carriers can also take a pounding in very heavy weather. Water washing over the bow and forward flight deck is not an unusual sight. In 1969 we got word of an impending cyclone while on station in the Gulf of Tonkin. The day before it hit us we launched all aircraft not already stowed on the hanger deck and sent them to safety in Da Nang. We then hunkered down and waited. That night I caught the first watch as petty officer of the deck (8;00PM - midnight for you land lubbers) responsible for 6 flight deck watch standers (2 forward; 2 midships; and 2 aft). They had to stand their watch outside in the catwalks unless specifically given orders to come inside. As the petty officer of the watch I got to hang out in Flight Deck Control with a backgammon game going on, and endless coffee. Ahh.. the privileges of rank. I did however have to make hourly rounds of the watches, and enter so in the ship's Log. It only took one trip up to the bow to realize that white water was now washing over the foredeck with nearly every wave, and the foredeck watches were in grave danger of being washed overboard.

When I got back to Flight Deck Control I called the Bridge and explained the situation to the Officer Of The Deck. He made the call to bring the foredeck watches inside, but they still had to come out every 15 min. to eyeball the Flight deck then go back inside. The other watches (midships and aft) still had to hang out in the catwalks, and I still had to make my hourly rounds. That night and that storm were the worst I have ever experienced aboard ship.