The wind threatens to blow me off the deck

Rain painfully rips across the flight deck

Waves crash ten feet over the 60' high deck

Each threatened to wash me off the ship

The sound of chains breaking is like a shot

Jets and planes are coming loose to run away

Shadowy shapes grab more chains to catch

The many chains break setting them free

Keeping your footing on grease soaked decks

Shapes gathering around a jet in danger

A jet shifts and someone dies pinned in two

Horror seen by the continuous lightening

Balls of lightning roll down the deck

They are like bowling balls for us pins

The smell of sulfur and metal combined

My hair stands up in static and fear

In the lightning a destroyer seems to fly

The propellers turn hopelessly in the air

With a crash the destroyer submerges

Will the destroyer rise again all hope

Weariness weighs down and you stumble

You notice the deck is pitching erratically

What power can make a carrier move so

Our meager power shrinks before the storm.

Later the footprints on the wall are painted

Four and six inch armored plating welded

Plane parts, chains and body are removed

We return to the tiny danger of possible war

From my time aboard the USS Independence CV-62