I found this impressive photo of USS Langley. I wonder what are the effects of heavy rolling on a ship and crew too. Can a ship that size capsize due to heavy rolling?
USS Langley (CVL-27) rolling sharply as she rides out a Pacific storm. Photographed from USS Essex (CV-9). The original photograph is dated 13 January 1945, but Morison, "History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II", Vol. 13, captions this view as having been taken during the "Great Typhoon" of 18 December 1944.
My father in law flew off of small carriers in WWII. He describes waking up in his hammock during a big storm and looking through an opening in the side of the hangar deck almost straight down at the water. He didn't stay there. :)
I don't know of any ships larger than a destroyer capsizing, but the US lost several destroyers that way in a WWII Typhoon. They were low on fuel and not properly ballasted.
Pitching has much more impact on a crew than rolling. Rolling may be fatiguing and emotionally draining, but if you want serious nausea, you want the rapid vertical changes that come with pitching.
The ships I have been on in bad weather roll and pitch and yaw and stagger all at once....and when the screws hit the air and then re-enter the water, everything shakes and shudders.......
Absolutely! I have been on an old diesel submarine on the surface in a big storm, and the stern was the worst. You get the "elevator" feeling going up and down, plus the shaking as the screws sink back into the water as Ulrich mentioned.
You do get a bit of a shake as the bow buries itelf, but not as bad.
We had the snorkel mast fully extended and still the valve closed occasionally.
