For the sailors amongst us.....

[Condor]

Do you believe in God? You will after this.....

 

http://justkeepfishing.com/Depoestrom.html

[BEER30]

Man , that looks like fun !

Been in a few tights spot's myself coming in on an outward tide , unfavorable wind and high surf . Getting lined up with the bouys with cross current during 8' seas in a 22' tub . Along with shallow inlet . Just get on top of a wave and go surfing inwards , hoping not to over run the break . With Hooter's girls aboard full of Rhode Island Ice Tea , giggling their butt's off ! :cool10:

 

BEER30

[Thom]

yep , the fun part is turning around between the waves , i had a 47 ft. CC and a few times i road a wave in though the submarine channel at key west , 2 hands on the throttles and 2 hands on the wheel = not enough hands :rotfl:

[juggler]

I'm sure some other Navy guys can tell of a bigger storm and waves than I saw in the Navy. Here's what we did.

 

In January of 1993 I was aboard the USS George Elliot (FFG-12) and we were heading back to Long Beach, CA from Seattle, WA. The ship was going into dry-dock for an overhaul and helo flight deck extension, so we had offloaded all the missiles, torpedoes, sub-tracking sonar buoy's, and all other weaponry. This made the ship about 50-75 tons lighter than normal, plus we had no aviation fuel on board. This means the ship was sitting high on the water and could run much faster than normal.

 

We entered the Pacific from Seattle just ahead of a huge winter storm running down from Alaska. We were in 40 foot seas on our 445 foot long ship. At one point we encountered a rouge wave that towered over the 03 level of the ship which is 70 above the waterline. The wave hit the bridge windows hard and since I was on the bridge at the time I got a real close up view of the inside of the wave.

 

We rode the front of that storm for a day or so and gained a fair amount distance on the storm. We pulled into Long Beach a full day ahead of the storm. That was a fun trip. Those were the biggest waves I've ever seen.

 

[BOO]

A friend and I use to fish the Salmon tournaments on Lake Michigan and we got in a few tight spots like that. Never got hurt though and caught a lot of fish.

I noticed most of the people on the boats were not wearing PFD's.

Jerry

[juggler]

A friend and I use to fish the Salmon tournaments on Lake Michigan and we got in a few tight spots like that. Never got hurt though and caught a lot of fish.

 

I noticed most of the people on the boats were not wearing PFD's.

 

Jerry

 

I used to live in the south burbs of Chicago as a kid. Dad would take us smelting on the lake front all the time, plus he'd fish the salmon run in the Lincoln Park Lagoon every year. We'd see some real big waves coming off that lake in the storms. When that lake gets mad she is MAD. I think only Lake Superior gets worse waves.

[Sailor]

Now that does look like fun! One January I was at the helm of a 450ft ferry when we came out of Active Pass. The first wave hit us, went over the bridge and froze solid on all the windows. We had to cross the gulf on radar. When we got to the other side a deckhand was sent out to chip a hole in the ice so we could see to dock the ship. We made it with the Capt, the mate and myself all trying to peer through a 1 ft wide hole in the ice. That was a bad winter.

[Older...]

I'm an old 10 year Navy vet myself, but no water induced exciting memories for me because my tours were on CV-64 and CVN-68; Floating cities. All my excitement was on the flight deck with my babies: The F-14 Tomcat.

Sold our 20 foot pontoon last year when we moved off the water, so we're land locked for a while now. Just bikes for entertainment.

[BOO]

I'm an old 10 year Navy vet myself, but no water induced exciting memories for me because my tours were on CV-64 and CVN-68; Floating cities. All my excitement was on the flight deck with my babies: The F-14 Tomcat.

Sold our 20 foot pontoon last year when we moved off the water, so we're land locked for a while now. Just bikes for entertainment.

 

I'm a five year Navy guy, on the CVS 15 USS Randolph and the CVA 59 USS Forrestal. I actually saw a wave break over the flight deck of the Randolph when we were in the edge of a Hurricane....about 1966 I'm thinking.........scary stuff.....

Jerry

[eagleeye]

Hey Boo,

 

I was on the Kitty hawk, CVA-63 in 63 & 64 then to the Randolph CVS-15, from 64 to 67.

Biggest waves I saw was off of cape haderus. Over the flight deck.

 

that's a BIG WAVE.

 

Steve

[BOO]

Steve,

 

Nice chatting with you on the phone and we will definately get together soon to tell sea stories.

 

Jerry

[Thom]

did the last North Atlantic cruise on CV-18 the wasp , i saw waves up over the flight deck on the sinking Sara CV-60 in a hurricane .

[FozzyUSN]

I was onboard the USS O'Bannon (DD-987) and we had to leave port because of Hurricane Hugo. We had the squadron commander onboard and he insisted on all the ships remaining in formation. After three days, we began cleaning up and were finding foot prints about 3 - 4 feet up on the bulk heads. One of our inclinometers froze at 59 degrees. One of the gunners mates said we took water in the forward 5" around the base. A trip I'll never forget.

[Squidley]

My first good one was on the USS Elmer Montgomery (FF1082) in the north Atlantic in October. Waves coming all the way over the ship to the flightdeck on that back. It didn't help that we were sub hunters with a 20' diameter sonar dish under the front keel. Ship would brak water in the front and crash down and the whole damn thing would shimmy side to side...that was 1 hell of a ride for 3 days

[juggler]

My first good one was on the USS Elmer Montgomery (FF1082) in the north Atlantic in October. Waves coming all the way over the ship to the flightdeck on that back. It didn't help that we were sub hunters with a 20' diameter sonar dish under the front keel. Ship would brak water in the front and crash down and the whole damn thing would shimmy side to side...that was 1 hell of a ride for 3 days

 

The FFG's that I was on were not any better at riding a storm than those FF's were. Being the FF replacement ship, we had the same sonar bulb on the bow keel as well. I do remember it felt like half the ship was out of the water at the crest of each wave and then she came slamming down and the next wave washed over the decks. Like I said I saw that one wave wash over the 03 level. I'm sure the flight deck got a good wash down from the wave. That was a fun ride.

[Sailor]

Not big but still scary. On a 140 foot ferry I was working on we had an open car deck. One day we had the decks awash with water up to the rocker panels of the cars. We had the wind dead behind us when we tried to dock. Wave and wind slued us and we missed the dock. We managed to stop before the beach but it took a full half hour with engines at full power to make it one ship length out so we could try again. We tied up and had to time getting the cars off to match the wave crests. I went up to the parking lot and told the people lined up that the next sailing was cancelled. Every one of them said " Oh thank God ". The next morning I returned to work and had to clear the rocks that had been lifted of the sea bottom and deposited on the car deck.

On another open deck ferry we had a wave come over the bow and smash in the windshields of the cars at the front.

And this is in suposedly sheltered waters.

[k7mdl]

I was on a small research submarine (nuclear powered deep submersible for the purists among us) with a 3ft freeboard, so out in the Atlantic, nearly every wave goes over the deck, many over the top of the small sail.

 

With a speed of under 4 knots we were towed everywhere. The nice part was that we were normally towed submerged. When the going got nasty we would only feel a small surge in the 1200ft long nylon tow line. The tow ship was an old 245ft rounded bottom mono hull Submarine Rescue ship (ASR) that bobbed like a cork in water and they took some nasty hits (or so I heard - I was riding smooth under the waves!). I did spend some time at sea on the ASR though ion the Bahamas and I could imagine it was no picnic under rougher seas.

 

Used to stand on the deck of that submarine and hook up the tow line. Harnessed to the track on the deck, take 3 waves over the top, wipe the water off, quickly retrieve the 130lb steel towball from the divers in the Zodiac along side bobbing up and down, tie it off, wait for the next sets of waves go over and the Zodiac to return with the tow line, quickly get the 10" shackle assembled on the tow line and 60 ft tow ball pendant, insert cotter pin, bend it (not drop the locking pliers or lose all the spare cotter pins), throw the shackle clear as the ships backed apart. Maybe 15-20 minutes if the wind co-operated. Much easier on the bones doing a submerged tow hookup.

 

Wore a heavy duty PVC rainsuit. Not to keep dry - but to minimize the abrasion when the waves knocked you over and you started rolling/sliding down the non-skid fiberglass decks with lots of not-so-rounded boltheads...Was young and immortal back then...what a hoot!

 

Similar fun documented in a book (Dark Waters) by an earlier crew member for some good reading. Best read along with Blind Man's Bluff.

 

Mike