Orion...
I was in my stateroom, reading a book right before going on shift. My stateroom was on the O-3 (ops) level which is just below the flight deck, so we hear everything. This happened in the late afternoon and I was just passing time waiting to go on-shift in CDC (Combat Direction Center). One gets used to all the bumps, thumps, and sounds of cat-shots and traps going on... and when this guy caught the wire, we could hear it spool out normally, then boom, a metal "whip cracking" sound and then another boom (I assumed the ejection seats), then all the 1MCs (shipboard speaker systems) came alive with the usual emergency calls "all hands on flight deck render assistance...", that kind of stuff.
The ironic thing was that TWO YEARS PRIOR, the USS GW just got done with carrier quals and had to scramble (yes, scramble an aircraft carrier; MASSIVELY HARD to do, maintenance and personnel-wise) up the coast to New York after the 9/11 bombings. 9/11 is not a good day for the GW, so IF I were still on that boat, I'd be weary doing anything on that day.
Later
Sludge