Show highest ocean waves people often get an exaggerated idea of 0 the size of the towering waves that break over vessels during storms it is unusual for a wave to attain a height of 75 feet the highest reported by the hydrographic office of the united states navy department was estimated at 80 feet this was encountered in the north atlantic by the british steamship majestic attempts to measure ocean waves during violent storms have been very unsatisfactory owing to the biffi difficulty culty in making the measurements the highest waves measured by the navy department were less than 5 50 0 feet |