(See photos from the USS Forrestal here)

THE TREMENDOUS whine of jet engines combined with the savage heat of jet blasts and the thunder of catapults launching tons of aircraft into the sky above the oceans make the flight deck of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier one of the most dangerous work spaces in the world.

The complete din precludes any vocal communication by the men who launch and recover the aircraft, and the men who fly them.

The flat flight deck high above the water’s surface takes on the appearance of a stage, with men giving instructions by using various hand signals and signs.

The "performers" do their act with all the grace of ballet dancers, seemingly oblivious to the danger around them.

Young Navy airmen scurry about, hooking cables from catapults to the aircraft, chocking and unchocking wheels and sending and receiving hand signals to and from coworkers.

The men who work the flight deck can also tell what jobs another man is trained to perform by his dress. Various colored sweatshirts are worn by the men in the different aviation branches enabling the senior petty officers and officers to pass directions to people assigned to their division by checking the color of a man’s shirt. The men who arm the aircraft wear red, launch crews wear yellow and so on.

The work is hard, dirty, and can be very uncomfortable when carriers conduct flight operations during bad weather. But the men who work the flight deck, from plane pushers to the "air boss," know they are members of an exclusive team.

The naval aviators who sit in the cockpits of carrier aircraft are also very aware their lives depend on the flight deck crews of today’s monstrous "bird farms."