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I don't remember looking oustside that day but I am sure I wouldn't have seen anything, we didn't hang up on the rock, just a glancing blow. The only kelp I ever saw at sea was small floating paddies. I doubt we were in the thick of it, obvious shallow water hazard. There was something about that last aircraft, maybe it had mechanical problems, the ship had to be going into the wind with 30mph wind over the top to land aircraft typically.
I was fortunate and got outside often. My primary job was like a maytag repairman, during a 7 month westpac I had 36 repair jobs where someone from the flight deck would determine which radar box had failed and send it to me to repair. Most would take 1 hour or less. With high power radar you could often smell your way to the failure. The other Hawkeye radar tech got busted for weed in Hawaii so I was the only one for 6 months, they couldn't send me off to work in the mess halls or toilet repair like most new sailors on the ship. I filled my time by volunteering to work with the flight deck electronic techs, supporting ship-to-ship material transfers, watching betamax movies , and playing guitar. Embarrassing duty compared to the folks serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Much respect to them.
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