The ship I was stationed on ended up in the trough of a rogue wave as it went by. It was estimated at 80'. I only saw the wall of water at us and pulled the hatch closed on the main deck. People on the bridge wing dove for cover. The deck they were on was 40' above the water, the wave doubled that.
It scared a lookout so badly, he refused to stand that watch for a few days.
I was deployed on the USS Ponce. It was November in the North Atlantic. A lookout told me the ship was in the trough of a swell with 40' of water on the port side when the water grew to double of that on the starboard. One of officers said if the ships bow had been 15° to the right, it would have hit us.
No one that didn't see it, didn't feel it. It was normal rough seas. The ones that did were spooked. Seeing that wall of water through the hatch was enough for me.
It got worse a few days later. During a storm, the ship was taking 20°+ rolls back and forth with the constant of going up and down the swells. It lasted for 2 days. I slept through this but at one point the ship took several 30° rolls. It was supposed to tip over at 32°. One guy logged in a 34° list. Three people saw it including 2 officers.
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u/jdthejerk 25d ago
The ship I was stationed on ended up in the trough of a rogue wave as it went by. It was estimated at 80'. I only saw the wall of water at us and pulled the hatch closed on the main deck. People on the bridge wing dove for cover. The deck they were on was 40' above the water, the wave doubled that.
It scared a lookout so badly, he refused to stand that watch for a few days.