Other shipping affected by bad weather?

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by seafarer

There's a show on the Discovery channel here, "Deadliest Catch" that's been running for a fair number of years now. It follows the Alaskan crab fisheries in the Bering Sea. The various crab species are fished in the late fall, winter and early spring months, so the weather is, predicably, often unbelievably bad. Watching 90ft to 150ft ships, in seas that may reach 40ft (or one rogue wave caught on tape that had to be 60ft or more - rolled one of the ships clean onto her side, busted the captains ribs, shut off the engines when they lost oil pressure - she righted herself though and they got back without aid). Anyhow, it makes you appreciate how important a skilled helmsman is in heavy seas, and how much the sea can dictate what direction you WILL be steaming in for awhile. That aspect of sea conditons and navigation is not modeled in SHIII or SHIV.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=l_8hOai9hGQ

[seafarer]

Actually, I found the video I was remembering

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0aa_1178767829 (also on YouTube ).

The fishing vessel is the Aleutian Ballad, a 100ft Aft-wheel house crabber. They estimated the wave had to be more then 60ft or so.

[Ivan Putski]

I`m in a hell of a storm at the moment, 15 meters per sec. wind speed, doing all I can to make headway, just SE of Cork, Ireland. I`ve had several single contacts, but unable to close with them, visibility is terrible on top of everything else. I noticed my watch crew did`nt have rain gear on, so I brought them below, then back to the bridge, all snug in their rain slickers. I`ve had this weather for 12 days, heading back to base before my fuel gets critical.

[Ula Jolly]

15m/s storms are really not among the worst. Between 20-30m/s, most platforms have to give up. Indeed I am sorry SH3 has 15m/s as the worst storms. I'd have liked to see them worse.
Destroyers in particular - historically at least - did not perform very well in such rough seas as these. My mind drifts toward the battle of the North Cape. Not only did the leader of the German destroyer flotilla long struggle against these waves, dramatically reducing his speed, but admiral Bey on the Scharnhorst could at one point, though damaged, have outsailed the British destroyer, since lighter ships don't fare so well in headwind as heavier ships.

There could probably have been even worse seas than those that are in the game now, and if there were, I'd love to see the crew green-faced! Reduced efficiency and whatnot.

[Kaleu. Jochen Mohr]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

The wind speed should read 15 meters/second, or around 33 knots.

my bad, just said 15 in the game

[trongey]

Originally Posted by Ula Jolly

15m/s storms are really not among the worst. Between 20-30m/s, most platforms have to give up. Indeed I am sorry SH3 has 15m/s as the worst storms. I'd have liked to see them worse.
Destroyers in particular - historically at least - did not perform very well in such rough seas as these. ...

This account from the Pacific theatre in 1944 shows just how devastating weather could be to warships:

December 18 - A typhoon east of the Philippines heavily damages the Third Fleet. The destroyers USS Hull (DD-350), USS Monaghan (DD-354), and USS Spence (DD-512) are sunk. The light carriers USS Cowpens (CVL-25), USS Monterey (CVL-26), USS Cabot (CVL-28), and USS San Jacinto (CVL-30); escort carriers USS Altamaha (CVE-18), USS Nehenta Bay (CVE-74), USS Cape Esperance (CVE-88), and USS Kwajalein (CVE-98); light cruiser USS Miami (CL-89); destroyers USS Dewey (DD-349), USS Aylwin (DD-355), USS Buchanan (DD-484), USS Dyson (DD-572), USS Hickox (DD-673), USS Maddox (DD-731) and USS Benham (DD-796); destroyer escorts USS Melvin R. Nawman (DE-416), USS Tabberer (DE-418) and USS Waterman (DE-740); oiler USS Nantahala (AO-60) and fleet tug USS Jicarilla (ATF-104) are damaged.

I can't find the picture right now, but I've seen one showing one of the damaged destroyers with it's whole bow sheared off. Talk about limping home!

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Ula Jolly

15m/s storms are really not among the worst. Between 20-30m/s, most platforms have to give up. Indeed I am sorry SH3 has 15m/s as the worst storms. I'd have liked to see them worse.
Destroyers in particular - historically at least - did not perform very well in such rough seas as these. My mind drifts toward the battle of the North Cape. Not only did the leader of the German destroyer flotilla long struggle against these waves, dramatically reducing his speed, but admiral Bey on the Scharnhorst could at one point, though damaged, have outsailed the British destroyer, since lighter ships don't fare so well in headwind as heavier ships.

There could probably have been even worse seas than those that are in the game now, and if there were, I'd love to see the crew green-faced! Reduced efficiency and whatnot.

I use the double-size waves, so it represents about 30 m/s.

As for destroyers, I served on one, and you're right: bad weather is nasty. The funny thing is, while they sink easily in the game, the little Flowers rolled and bobbed over the big waves, and actually fared better than the longer, thinner DDs.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by trongey

I can't find the picture right now, but I've seen one showing one of the damaged destroyers with it's whole bow sheared off. Talk about limping home!

Not just destroyers:

[kiwikapitan]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6XoPqtnfTuc

Check out the roll on this biaatch. Makes you feel queasy just watching.

[Sailor Steve]

The pitch is pretty severe, too, in a couple of those scenes.

I have an old copy Warship International magazine featuring an article titled 'It's Rough Out There'. The author describes the varying sea states and what happens, and he points out that there are actually six axes of movement: Pitch (bow and stern up and down), Roll (obvious), Yaw (side-to-side swaying), Surge (the whole ship lunges forward and backward, Heave (the whole ship moves up and down) and Shift (the whole ship moves sideways. It is entirely possible to be in the forward part of the ship and have the bow going up while the whole ship is going down; and the same for the other directions.

Nicholas Monsarrat describes whole convoys turning into the wind and heaving to (stopping), knowing that there was no way a u-boat could attack in such heavy weather.

[Jimbuna]

I use the double-size waves, so it represents about 30 m/s.

[kiwikapitan]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

I agree Jim. I play with seasonal settings in SH3Commander and even in June 15m/s waves are HUGE. I can't imagine how big they would be when you double them!

[kiwikapitan]

That reminds me what storm settings do you all set for your boats? I think the GWX default is 11 but IMO that is way to strong for a type II or even a type VII boat. It's even borderline for a type IX but I figure it's heavier bulk means it can ride the waves easier. So my settings are type II = 7 m/s; type VII = 9 m/s; type IX = 11 m/s; and finally a type XXI = 12 m/s.

Anyway most of the time it's bloody 15 m/s so settings don't really matter!

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by kiwikapitan

I agree Jim. I play with seasonal settings in SH3Commander and even in June 15m/s waves are HUGE. I can't imagine how big they would be when you double them!

If you use the seasonal setting then you've seen the double-size waves. Commander gives those in the 'bad' months of winter.

[kiwikapitan]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

If you use the seasonal setting then you've seen the double-size waves. Commander gives those in the 'bad' months of winter.

Really? I didn't know that. Thanks SS.