USN procedureHi riggerbob
Is that what they did in practice, or are you suggesting an answer to the risk ships were at while recovering a seaplane?
For that operation, "Portland" would steam 30 to 60 degrees off the wind line at 12 knots, raising the "CAST" flag (now called "CHARLIE") halfway up the halyard. The CAST flag informed the seaplane pilot that the ship was about to commence a turn through the wind line for the purpose of recovery.
The pilot then flew the airplane at 500 feet altitude abeam of the ship, that is to say, at a 90 degree angle from the ship's heading, either port or starboard. At that point the flag was "two-blocked", or raised to the top of the halyard, and the ship commenced its turn across the wind line to create a relatively smooth landing "slick" on the surface of the water for either a port or a starboard recovery.
The Curtiss SOC seaplane hooks on to the "sled" or recovery mat in preparation for being hoisted on board. Note the flags marking the front edges of the "sled".
The pilot would synchronize his final approach with this maneuver; making a wide left turn; gradually letting down with full flaps; and setting his plane down in the slick as close as possible to the ship. He would then taxi the plane forward until a hook on the underside of his main float snagged the webbing of the "sled", which resembled a cargo net, being trailed from a boom on the ship.
The pilot would then turn off the ignition and stop the engine as the crane operator on the ship lowered a hook. At this point, the radioman/gunner would climb forward from the after cockpit and stand upright over the pilot in order to grasp the crane's hook. The pilot would hold on to the radioman/gunner's ankles to prevent him from falling off the aircraft which would now be swaying back and forth in the wind. After the radioman/gunner slipped a steel loop from the upper wing of the aircraft over a hook lowered by the ship's aircraft-handling crane, the seaplane was hoisted aboard ship and secured to the catapult amidship.http://www.pacificwar.org.au/Midway/RalphWilhelm/SOCrecovery.html