Well, that's what a lot of us grunts thought in the US Army, but we never spent any time on the high seas.

Since WWII, and the US became the dominate naval force on the globe, the US Navy has been a pretty safe place to be, with regard to being shot at (unless you ar ea pilot). It'd be pretty tough to harm a major naval vessel when steaming as part of a combat group- even with a submarine...

However, safety from snipers, land mines, booby traps, small arms fire, etc- withstanding, I'm not sure I'd want to deal with a ride like this-

Can you imagine being out in some BS like this???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7erjOFT2490

I'm not sure if the Navy traverses conditions like this routinely, or only when they "have to" or simply for training purposes, especially with carriers with 5,000 + people, and billions in equipment on board.

Looking at these videos- I may have to change my opinion about swabbies. Especially if they routinely deal with conditions like this...

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoid=14271979

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPBaqh3dcVM
I had one friend who served on the USS Constellation, and he would tell stories that'd make the hair on your arms stand up.

He'd say the carriers woul dbe pitching and rolling, but if you were in a spot to look outside, you'd see escort Frigates disappear below (or through) waves, and come out the other side.
So, as bad as conditions "sucked" on the Carrier- it was apparently far worse on the smaller vessels.

 

Imagine the guys who have been in commercial fishing for decades. They do that kinda thing for a living. Crazy.

 

Yes storms can be very dangerous. During WW II, a typhoon hit one of Halsy's fleets. Loses were 3 destroyers, damage to 15 other ships, and the loss of 790 men.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Cobra_%281944%29

That first video may have been the Strait of Magellan at the tip of South America. A very dangerous part of the ocean, as can be the waters off the Cape of Good Hope.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvtwo...eature=related

Not war related, but this one made me say "Holy Sheet".

EDIT: Title says wave hits ship, but I believe it's cause by the boat falling into the swell.

 

I seem to remember this video-

I think this ship lost power, and the people were rescued (in calmer seas), but a day or so later, the ship went under due to rough seas. If this is indeed the ship I saw- that was off the coast of Africa...

Apparently, with power- the ship would have made it, but without power- it was a sitting duck to mother nature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deX7R...1&feature=fvwp


The only thing on the water larger than those cruise ships, are Aircraft Carriers, some container ships, and oil tankers.


Carrier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWpQ_0fqJOM

 

Well in my 16 yrs in the Navy I've seen the water over the bow, I've seen a wave take a plane and almost knock it off the elevator as they were trying to move it down to the hangar for Maint. Put it like this....picture yourself standing in the center of the hangar bay (where all the planes are kept and worked on in the Carrier) and the 1092 ft long ship your on hits a wave so big that it slows the ship so much that it tosses you forward off your feet! If your on the bow and the ship goes up a swell and you jump at the correct time you feel like your just hanging there for a sec till the deck comes back up to meet your feet.

picture it...1092 ft long, 150+ ft across, 27 stories tall from the bottom to the top of the tower!

http://video.google.com/videosearch?...0&aq=f&start=0

 

Little brother is on the Reagan. Quarters suck as does life in general on a carrier LOL.

 

I did two Med cruises aboard the USS Eisenhower and let me tell ya, it's 100x better than sleeping in a tent and eating MRE's. Showers nightly, fresh food and protected by several squadrons of F/A18's and F/14's. Nobody in their right minds even tries to come close to a carrier or naval ship.

However, the danger of working the flight deck is ever present and was thoroughly enjoyed by me! Go Wildcats VFA-131.

 

I used to work with a guy who spent 9 years on carriers (Nimitz class). When the movie "The Perfect Storm" came out, he said that was unrealistic- because in his super-long 9-year career, he'd never seen seas over 30 - 40 feet, and there was no such thing as a 100 foot wave, or big boats getting tossed around like those tankers and container ships were in that movie.

Well, while I knew he was FOS, at the time there was no proof of rouge waves. However, in the past 10 years, scientists (bouys and satellites) have documented several 100 foot plus waves in the north Atlantic ocean, as well as off the coast of western Africa, and a few over 90 feet high in the Gulf of Mexico (I guess I won't be going on that cruise after all)- not looking for that kind of ride as was seen in those videos. They've even found huge waves in Lake Michigan, depending on the weather.

I'll take snipers, tents, land mines, and MRE's any day- over drowning.

Much respect to swabbies...

 

Ive been in the Gulf of Mexico in 30 ft seas on an LHD. Didnt think they got that big in the Gulf, but apparently they do. It made for an interesting couple of days.

 

No worries for the Navy's best and the brightest......."ah-OOG-ah, ah-OOG-ah,"........"Dive, Dive."

 

Exactly...

Those guys are like, Rough seas? What's that?



Had I let those recruiters sucker me into the Navy, I'd want to have been on one of three ships...

Aircraft Carrier: Nimitz Class, or the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), if I had a choice. (Big-E is still the longest and tallest carrier- last time I checked). One of it's nicknames is "Quarter-Mile Island" A play on 3-mile island.

Battleship: Iowa Class (Before they were decommissioned, BB-63 (USS Missouri, prefered))

Submarine: Preferably Los Angeles or Ohio Class.

 

G Washington, Roosy, Ike, Truman, Stennis... The food isn't bad...but being out to sea with nowhere to go gets on the nerves REAL fast. I just got back from IA in Iraq...atleast I could go somwhere and get away....not on the ol big blue

 

If the draft is ever re-instated, I am signing up for BUDS and joining the Seals.

 

My gosh... I'm sea sick after watching some of that. Wow.