The compartment I slept in on the Dewey was about the size of a school bus, and 40 men slept there. It was located roughly in the same place as the damaged compartment on the Fitzgerald; starboard side below the main deck, right about the waterline, just aft of the bridge. While underway, I could hear the waves slapping against the hull, just inches away.

I was always terrified that I might be trapped down there in the event the ship hit a mine, or was torpedoed while I slept. And like all my shipmates, I practiced finding my way to the main deck with my eyes shut, so that I would be able to get out even if the ship’s lights were out, or the interior was filled with smoke.

If the ship was hit in combat, I would probably be at my General Quarters station on the bridge, and even though I would be exposed to enemy fire, at least I would not be trapped and drowned like a rat in a sewer pipe. That prospect always terrified me, and I was in awe of the sailors like the magazine and engine room crews who were below the waterline behind sealed watertight doors in action. I would rather take my chances with shrapnel and flames than be locked down helpless in the bowels of the ship.

The idea that I might be trapped in my rack while the water flooded the space due to a peacetime collision or other accident never occurred to me. I trusted the watch to keep the ship out of trouble while I was asleep. I doubt any of the survivors of the Fitzgerald collision will ever sleep soundly in their berthing spaces ever again.

Incidentally, the destroyer that came to Fitzgerald’s aid was also named Dewey, she is the namesake of my old ship, who alas, was broken up for scrap about 20 years ago.

TOKYO — The bodies of several missing American sailors were found in the flooded berthing compartments of the damaged naval destroyer Fitzgerald on Sunday, a day after it was rammed by a container ship four times its size off the Japanese coast, the Navy said in a statement and a Twitter post.

The Navy’s statement did not say how many of the seven missing sailors were found, or if any of them were found alive. But Vice Adm. Joseph P. Aucoin, commander of the United States 7th Fleet, said at a news conference later Sunday that the search and rescue mission had ended. He said no further information about the missing sailors would be released until the process of notifying families had been completed.

Search crews had to work their way through the extensive damage to the Fitzgerald’s starboard side before they found the sailors, the Navy said. They were taken to a naval hospital in Yokosuka, Japan.

NY Times: Bodies of Several Sailors Are Found Aboard Damaged U.S. Destroyer (inexplicably not paywalled)