alternatehistory.com

Wikipedia had this fairly terrifying description of one of the first recorded "rogue waves"


In December 1942, Queen Mary carried 16,082 American soldiers from New York to Great Britain,[24] a standing record for the most passengers ever transported on one vessel.[25] During this trip, while 700 miles (1,100 km) from Scotland during a gale, she was suddenly hit broadside by a rogue wave that may have reached a height of 28 metres (92 ft). An account of this crossing can be found in Carter's book.[24][26] As quoted in the book, Carter's father, Dr. Norval Carter, part of the 110th Station Hospital on board at the time, wrote in a letter that at one point Queen Mary "damned near capsized... One moment the top deck was at its usual height and then, swoom! Down, over, and forward she would pitch." It was calculated later that the ship rolled 52 degrees, and would have capsized had she rolled another 3 degrees.

Now, obviously the vessel traveled with escorts so help would've been readily available but it's doubtful what those ships could do anything to help. So, lets say either all or the vast majority of those on board the Queen Mary end up dead.

Now what? I'm uncertain what would be better or worse press for the Allies; "Queen Mary sunk by monster wave" or "Queen Mary sunk by U-boat", both are pretty morale lowering options to go with. Will this have any impact on the War whatsoever? On the other hand you now have proof of rogue waves decades before their "discovery" in 1995. Will the shipbuilding industry try to change designs in order to compensate for these extraordinarily rare events?
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