'Wet-starting' a jet engine aircraft was an old 'hot dog' prank used in fly-boy country. My understanding is that with the newer aircraft this is no longer possible. In the 1980s Tom Cruz movie -- "Top Gun" when the character, "Maverick" 'buzzed' the Control Tower, it was actually a spoof of this. No pilot would ever dare buzz a control tower because this would certainly be grounds to dismiss any pilot from the military. Incidentally, it's very ironic that John McCain was commonly described as a '"maverick" during his actual political career. Premeditated 'wet-starting' an engine on an open airfield wasn't nearly as determinable. Sometimes it occurred due to poor judgment and inexperience. There was always some 'plausible deniablity'. However, an aircraft carrier is not an open airfield. The rules are much stricter due to the higher density of aircraft and traffic. Therefore, it was strictly managed. The air wing on-board are highly trained to manage the movement of aircraft at all times, especially in 'air-ops'.

I once witnessed an aircraft-traffic controller direct a pilot to maneuver his aircraft one way, but the pilot turned the opposite way. The result was that the air-traffic controller was put in the path of the jet engine exhaust and I watched this individual get blown like a leaf in the path of a leaf blower into the "island" (super structure) of the ship. He was very lucky of the direction he was blown and that it wasn't to sea side of the flight deck. He could have been easily blown overboard. I ran down from the O9 level to the O3 flight deck level only to see this guy being helped in inside the door by others. The whole time this shaken individual was swearing and cursing about the pilot that screwed up. I'm sure the pilot was reprimanded for this.

Wet-starting an engine on an aircraft carrier is beyond stupid. It turns out McCain did a lot of very stupid things in the military. I believe he has the record for destroying and costing the military for crashed aircraft.