I catapulted off the deck of a US aircraft carrier in a largely windowless prop plane the Navy's been flying since the 1960s. It was jarring and intense.

• Business Insider recently traveled with the US Navy to the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea.
• To get there, our reporter flew on a small cargo plane from Bahrain to the aircraft carrier. 
• Landing on the massive warship was intense, but taking off from it was a shockingly jarring experience.

The plane's two-man crew screamed "Let's Go!" and I tucked into a brace position, anxiously waiting for the aircraft to launch. When it finally happened, there was a roar, and I was instantly thrown forward into my harness.

Catapulting off an aircraft carrier is a sharp, jarring experience even more intense than the landing, and I recently experienced this firsthand in a US Navy C-2 Greyhound.