Wave hits Navy ship with massive impact

I came across this video on the yahoo feed. Some have probably seen it, but for those who didn't, it is pretty cool and thought I'd share it. The wave itself doesn't seem that big until it hits the bridge. The impact on the window is pretty impressive. When you think how high up the bridge must be on this ship, it does become pretty wild to contemplate how large this wave may have actually been. Personally I think I would have hit the deck when I saw it coming!

Not sure how to embed this particular video so here is THE LINK FOR IT
The video is only like 28 seconds so check it out.

reply to post by onehuman

Embedded for you.


That's pretty cool and rather unexpected how hard that impact was.
However, I think it was more a case of the ship coming off the top of a wave and landing in the water, rather than a wave itself hitting the ship.

I don't know, that just how it looks to me. I also live on the prairies so what do I know about ships.

reply to post by ShadowLink


Thanks for embedding that, silly me didnt think to just go look for it on you tube, lol dress rehearsal for old person moment.

I agree with you, it does appear to be more from the dip or gully. When I watch old navy footage of ww2 clips, Im always amazed how deep down those ships went and still came out upright. I went on the battleship they have in Fall River RI., and I know how high up the bridge was on that. I was just trying to visualize it from that memory. Been on the "Might Mo" in Hawaii as well, but didnt get up to the bridge.

Yes, it was a combination of things; a larger than average wave, a steeper and deeper ( ) than average trough behind the wave, and the ships position as it takes on the swell.

Something like this in a fresh water lake, scaled down quite a bit, could cause real problems for a fiberglass boat. I've seen a few fiberglass hulls get cracked like this.

It just goes to show the durability of today's modern ship design.... It must be quite an accomplishment to build a craft that can withstand this type of force... I can't really think about it a lot because I am still trying to wrap my head around how enough displacement can be created for a ship, built from thousands and thousands of pounds of steel, to be able to float and even carry massive payloads all around the planet!

reply to post by esteay812


Awww yes, the old "How can something that weighs that much still float" question. Pondered by many. Same with the jumbo jet. I have asked myself this many a times. Really quite simple to a engineer though I suppose, after all, they invented it.

I just wonder how the vikings felt when they hit something like that. It is amazing they ever got across the atlantic in those old tiny wooden ships.

reply to post by onehuman


I only found it on YouTube and embedded it cause the link you gave doesn't seem to like my browser.

As for the ship, can you imagine the amount of flex and stress that hull goes through in an impact like that.
I bet more than a few sailors inboard had their knees buckle under that landing.

In the video, it almost looked like the ship was submerged for a couple seconds. An amazing feat of human engineering if you ask me.

reply to post by onehuman


It can be challenging to wrap your mind around it, but it obviously works... evidenced by all the mass ocean liners and air liners.

There is a lot to be said for fluid displacement and the pressure it can apply to the displacing object.

Cruise ships require massive, massive engines to power the ship. These engines alone can make you scratch your head, as you try to imagine how they can remain afloat as they are sitting on a massive steel foundation.

The sheer weight of the furniture, water in swimming pools, all the passengers, the fuel, the construction materials, etc., makes it seem impossible to remain balanced and afloat.

It makes me wonder what the 'pressure per squar inch' on the boat's submergerd outer-shell is.

The outer-shell, the ship's "casing", is the point where every bit of the ships weight presses against one side, while the ocean/sea presses against the other side, as it tries to refill the displaced water.

The pressure on this "shell", as it supports the ship's weight on one side and continues to displace the water below on the other side, has to be so intense that it is hard to even comprehend.

I suppose, with a material strong enough to cope with extreme pressure, anything can float, as long as the base is wide enough and the hull is deep enough. Theoretically, if the base is wide enough and deep enough, and the body of water is also deep and wide, the entire Universe could float!...

[fantasyland] Who knows? Maybe the Universe is a ship, floating upon some extreme dimension. Maybe everything in the Universe is it's cargo, as-well-as everything else needed to make the 'ship' (universe) run...
[/fantasyland]