I know. The imagery of that sailor that my mind constructed from the description kind of sticks with me from reading that book.
Fire on a ship is a terrible, terrible thing and they are right to treat it as such. I was a flight deck guy, but I was filled with dread at the thought of being caught below decks in a fire. The sailor who was my mentor on my first cruise less than a year after the collision with the USS Belknap said they could not believe a single sailor on that ship survived that fire. He said the flames covered the entire topside of the ship from stem to stern, and went higher than the flight deck on the Kennedy. Only 8 men were killed...with that description, it seems like a miracle.
Funny, talking to some ship’s crew about that, they said they wouldn’t want to be on the deck in the event of hostilities...I guess everyone rationalizes that where they are is the best place to be...:)
I tip my hat to your guys. My old man did stuff in Korea that I can’t even fathom. And as a fairly-young guy. He didn’t talk much about it and I don’t think I knew how much it stayed with him. Unbelievable.