This was right before the gulf war so I may have met him! Assuming he was a gunners mate, that crew had a lot of moments of touching history. Besides mechanical computers, itβs a really dangerous place since they had to handle massive bags of flash powder.
My ship was near the USS Iowa when turret two went up. A sobering experience when you think how much risk the turret crews are in just by doing their jobs.
"On 19 April 1989, an explosion occurred within the Number Two 16-inch gun turret of the United States Navy battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) during a fleet exercise in the Caribbean Sea near Puerto Rico.[1] The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret's crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself."
I never really had context as a kid for how large that ship is, and was just astounded by the distances they would shell.