The real ship certainly had deck rails - lots of them. Most plastic kits don't include such parts; they're far too small to be represented with styrene castings. This is the sort of thing that makes modelers turn to photoetched aftermarket detail parts. Several companies make incredibly detailed photo-etched guardrails.
One set I can particularly recommend is the "U.S. Cruiser and Destroyer" set from Gold Medal Models. In includes railings, ladders, catapults, radar screens, and lots of other parts. Whether to spend the extra money, and time, on such things is, of course, entirely up to you. That Tamiya Indianapolis kit is an excellent one; it will produce a nice, impressive model right out of the box. The addition of a set of photoetched parts will turn it into a real showstopper, but probably will double or triple the amount of time you spend building the model.
Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.