We were headed for Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians aboard the Polar Star (USCG Icebreaker 399 feet long)....for 5 straight days we had above gale conditions......one day most of the seas were averaging in the 50s with occasional 60s.
One night, a wave broke over the bow, tore off a fire station, bent a lot of rails, damaged the forward crane and made a crewman slip down below and a door plate sliced his bicep nearly in half. The real treat was it broke a bridge window out, 80 feet above the waterline and put an estimated 300 gallons of water in the dropped tile overhead. It shorted out all the main lighting a radar or two and a bunch of other bridge equipment.