Hi all, usually just a lurker....but yes those waves happen IRL. I was in worse than that in the Mediterranean Sea in 1988 onboard USS Bainbridge CGN25. We actually attempted a rescue of two Greeks who were in a sailboat that capsized in a storm with 75 ft seas. The waves were breaking over the bridgewings, and we managed to save one civilian but when another wave went over the bow the second guy had just disappeared. Some really amazing weather, had to buckle up in Sonar on the stacks, as one minute you would be above the stack and the next the stack would be above you:doh:

Actually, that is an average size for waves in the North Atlantic during the winter months. As Jhereg stated it can be pretty much world wide, depending on the local weather, time of year and sea temps. On all 4 of my patrols in the North Atlantic on the Iowa we ran into seas equal to and worse than those shown in the photos. I remember during our task forces' mock invasion cruise of Norway we had one DDG loose two watchmen overboard and four FFG's had to turn around due to almost floundering. I was on the 04 level bridge and watch wave after wave crash over turrets 1 and 2, then smash into the front viewing ports of the bridge. One of our liberty boats was washed overboard and the other one, along with the Captain's Gig where totally thrashed.

There were a few times the entire bow up to turret 1 would submerge, only to slowly rock back up. At 19 years of age I was scared to death. I just knew the ship was gonna break in two, or over-turn. But, we made it. But I can attest that those pictures, specially the last one, do occur regularly.

Interesting to hear from somebody who has been in through this, thanks for sharing.
A relative of my wife's is retired from the Canadian Navy, it was something to hear him speak about what it was like in heavier waters.

Thanks again.

RDP

crap, those waves are huge :stare:
I can easily imagine my new sub name.... SS "Puke Fest"

It's only a puke fest when you still have something to puke. I prefer the name "HMAS Dry Reaching" myself. :rotfl:

You guys ever watch Deadliest Catch? Some of the waves they have on that show are terrifying.