Where 300 Sailors Sleep When 50-Foot Waves Hit a US Navy Destroyer

The top rack at the front of a US Navy destroyer has eighteen inches of air between a sailor's face and the steel above him. Tonight, in the North Atlantic in winter, that rack is climbing waves as tall as a five story building and dropping off them every eight seconds. Nine thousand tons of warship hit the sea like a truck hitting a wall, and the sailor inside does not wake up. This is three days inside a storm with 300 sailors. The ship rolls forty degrees, the outside decks are closed, and nobody gets off until the weather decides it is over. In this video: why the front of the ship is the worst place to sleep, how sailors wedge themselves into their racks so they do not fall five feet onto a steel deck, the head nobody wants to walk into on day two, the two minute shower with the water running sideways, the mess deck where trays only stay put on wet towels, 3 AM on a blacked out bridge watching the inclinometer needle, Typhoon Cobra and the three destroyers that rolled over in a single day in 1944, and the rule older than the Navy itself that keeps anyone from going over the side. And the strange part: why, by the third night, many of the crew are sleeping better than they do in calm water. Chapters 0:00 The top rack at the front of the ship 1:28 Why the bow is the worst place to sleep 3:31 Waking up into the storm 4:32 The two minute shower at forty degrees 5:35 Eating when the trays will not stay put 7:48 3 AM on the bridge 8:52 Typhoon Cobra: three destroyers in one day 9:54 The roll that would not stop 10:48 One hand for yourself, one for the ship 12:05 Why they sleep better on day three 12:40 The storm breaks