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.
For some reason our CO would never counter flood empty tanks with salt water. He said it was a pain to empty them and follow epa rules. So we bobbed.
The Knox had a huge keel anchor and the sheer weight of it help keep the bow down. Ours broke off in Italy just before heading home. Well the Atlantic being the Atlantic we hit a bad storm 2/3s the way across . Low on fuel and no keel anchor we were taking green water over the bow for days. No counter flooding. Pretty much sucked. As a sick joke a brand new anchor was waiting for us, sitting on the pier when we got home.
The “waves turn the minutes to hours”