I was always very impressed with the professionalism and expert execution of these events, and I saw many as well. I never saw a highline transfer...I think they were using helicopters all the time by then.
Of course, the one I DIDN’T see was when the JFK and the USS Bordelon ran into each other in the middle of the night right BEHIND me as I slept in the cockpit of my plane! The guy in the silver fire-fighting suit banged on my canopy with a fire extinguisher nozzle to wake me up, and told me I better report in for General Quarters...
Man, you didn’t want to be on a small ship around the Big John, that is for sure.
I never saw a highline transfer of a man, that is. Saw plenty of the other stuff, though...:)
Yep, when you are keeping station near a bird farm you best be on your toes.
My division, (Fox), ran the midship high line. You make a mistake doing that people are maimed for life if they are lucky, otherwise they are dead.
Loss of steerage is a bad deal. So is letting the messenger hit the water when it’s half way out, no division on earth can hold it once it gets wet. It’s freaky how fast a line can cut through a leather glove and human flesh. Heck you can get burnt so badly you can’t use your hands if you don’t drop it fast enough, and that’s through a leather glove.
The trick is training and paying attention. It’s a real feat to get twenty or so sailors on a line to drop it and step away in one action together. But ... that’s what it takes.
We didn’t like vertreps even though it was less work for us. We had to really hustle to clear our tiny helo deck, and none of us liked working directly under the d@mned things.