William Hughes wrote:

What would happen if the C130 just flew in low to the deck and the
cargo was ejected out the back? Could most airdropped stuff take a 10
foot freefall? How about 20 feet? How about the carrier deck?
Probably no dents right? I can imagine it "depends" on what is being
delivered.

I don't think it's been tried on a carrier, but the system you describe exists.
It's called the Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System (LAPES).
Problem is, it isn't accurate enough for a carrier. One or two hundred feet short or long, or a
few degrees off-axis on land is no big deal, but on a carrier it's the
difference between a successful delivery and a massive hole in the transom, a
bunch of wrecked deckload aircraft, or a lost cargo.

Wouldn't the flight deck be cleared of aircraft? The 1960s picture
shows a cleared deck on Forrestal. How fast does the cargo slow down
from the parachutes that pull it from the plane? What if a special
surface was put on the bottom of the delivery containers to help it
slow down quicker? Imagine big keds sneaker soles? :-)

It's be easier to just rig the cargo for airdrop and splashdown, then retrieve it with the carrier's helos.
This, of course, limits the cargo to the lifting capacity of the helo, which
invalidates the entire reason for using a C-130 in the first place. Might as
well just stick to the COD.

Well wasn't the main reason for trying out the C130 more because of
range limitations not payload? Also, if the C130 payload is not a
couple of very large items too heavy for a helo but instead many
smaller items that could be recovered in multiple helo lifts?

Jay