Navy sailors made tough call to seal flooding ship compartments, unclear if survivors were inside...

I was part of the Squadron and not ships crew. But everything that training tells you is Fire & Flooding are your worst enemies at see. Even the spaces just below the flight deck of an Aircraft Carrier. If there is an explosion on the flight deck and a hole is punched into it, you know the fire teams are immediately throwing water & or foam at it. If your in the space below the flight deck (as I was) your getting flooded at about 80' above the water line of the Aircraft Carrier. You have a short time to get everyone out of that space and yourself before the doors lock. They will get locked. You can not have two or three feet of water running down the passageways into any of the shops that maintain Aircraft, Catapults or Arresting Engines (arresting engines slow the cables down when the aircraft catch a cable).

Under duress, seems they made the best call they could.