The Knox class rode like crap in heavy seas. Much much worse low on fuel. To answer your question —no one ate or slept when it’s rough like that. Pissing? you did while hanging on. On the bridge when we heeled over 30 degrees there was dead silence . You could cut the tension with a knife. I think everyone on the bridge had the same thought— is this the one?
Ugh. One of the most terrifying (for me) books I have ever read was “Halsey’s Typhoon”, and the descriptions of what it was like on those small, low-on-fuel or unballasted destroyers was frightening.
People saying the Lord’s Prayer over and over, and the screams and moans of despair when they hit a roll they didn’t think they were coming back from and it hung in that state for what must have seemed like an eternity.
As a reader...I could visualize it.