alt Hacker NewsCitation please. Doesn't pass the sniff test.
I suspect the ocean in its various states provides quite a bit of dispersion. Replacing deck plates on a ship is a normal part of maintenance. I find it very hard to believe they'd induce randomness rather than having just that one plate get a different hardness (I know some people will screech about that but trust me, the warship industry is well practiced at such things).
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Citation is my professional network as a former Naval Flight Officer who flew off aircraft carriers, and it's not the deckplates, it's the nonskid coating that goes on top of them. It's expected to wear and be replaced every so often, but when you have to do it more often than that, it becomes a pain logistically and operationally.
And the entire point of the system is to counter the dispersion the ocean provides, much like a Naval Aviator is already required to in order to trap successfully. You are literally flying through a very narrow window that is moving in three dimensions.
Not sure about the ocean industry but carrier landings have full autoland support for a long time (see e.g. magic carpet).
I interpreted the effect here not to be on the deck plates but to be the point of impact between the cable and the hook. Sudden bends in cables can wear them fairly quickly in the immediate vicinity. I'm sure you can extend cable life proportionally to the spread of the loading.