Between early 1977 and late 1979 before we went into overhaul we lost quite a few planes and some pilots. One Tomcat came in low and the landing gear popped the Round down snapping it off. SECNAV and CNO were on the Bridge that night. The pilot and second seater rode it off the angle then jetisoned. Lost plane but they were OK. A S-3 came in high and caught number 4 {forward} wire. They went off the angle with hook still attached to the cable and initiated jetison. One went into the hull of the ship the other across the water no survivors but bodies recovered. One ABH was a Chalker in a routine re-spot of a Tomcat. He got ran over and died on sight. We had A-6's {I can't remember the variant} launching and with a couple miles dropping like bricks. That triggered a stand down of the plane for a while. One crew I think didn't get out. Those are only the ones I can remember.
I worked in AC&R the ships air conditioning and refrigeration shop. What I said about the walk in cooler being used for bodies is true. One of us stood watch to make certain proper temps were maintained and no unauthorized entry. It didn't matter if it was accidental or natural causes. We had a Chief die in his rack.
For what it's worth I saw 1970's pilots on Liberty. Lots of them. I was also T.A.D. as a Boat Snipe on Boat Crew and worked the Offiers boats or PB's. I saw one in Genoa try to bring a pig back to the ship. I've seen pilots who could not read a navigation chart we had and got assigned our boat officer for night runs. His orders grounded our boat. Hey we told him {respectfully} it was the wrong way. We'd been making runs all day to the beach, were experienced, and knew our, buoys, markers, and landmarks on the beach. He didn't. Rowdy? Oh yeah the pilots could be that. LOL. We had a ships company 1st LT who was an obnoxious jerk as well he was a LTCDR.
I served on an remote island. We had several people die. They were kept in the meat cooler until a plane could come pick them up. One time it was a week.