My dad was a red shirt (weapons) on carriers. I got to spend some time on carriers both as a kid and as an adult, and calling it a "ballet" is completely appropriate.
One of the most impressive things I've witnessed in my life is flight ops at night. And it's being conducted primarily by 20-something year old kids on a floating airport in the middle of the ocean.
My dad told me that on every cruise, at least one sailor would die. Some of it was just from natural causes when you have a couple thousand people on the ship, but he told me gruesome stories of guys walking into turning props, or falling overboard, or some other machinery accident.