* SS Kronprinz Wilhelm, September 18, 1901 – The most modern German ocean liner of its time (winner of the Blue Riband) was damaged on its maiden voyage from Cherbourg to New York by a huge wave. The wave struck the ship head-on.
* RMS Lusitania (1910) – On the night of 10 January 1910, a  wave struck the ship over the bow, damaging the forecastle deck and smashing the bridge windows.
* Voyage of the James Caird (1916) – Sir Ernest Shackleton encountered a wave he termed "gigantic" while piloting a lifeboat from Elephant Island to South Georgia.
* USS Memphis, August 29, 1916 – An armored cruiser, formerly known as the USS Tennessee, wrecked while stationed in the harbor of Santo Domingo, with 43 men killed or lost, by a succession of three waves, the largest estimated at 70 feet.
* RMS Homeric (1924) – Hit by a  wave while sailing through a hurricane off the East Coast of the United States, injuring seven people, smashing numerous windows and portholes, carrying away one of the lifeboats, and snapping chairs and other fittings from their fastenings.
* USS Ramapo (1933) – Triangulated at .
*  (1942) – Broadsided by a  wave and listed briefly about 52° before slowly righting.
* SS Michelangelo (1966) – Hole torn in superstructure, heavy glass smashed  above the waterline, and three deaths
*  (1975) – Lost on Lake Superior, a Coast Guard report blamed water entry to the hatches, which gradually filled the hold, or errors in navigation or charting causing damage from running onto shoals. However, another nearby ship, the , was hit at a similar time by two rogue waves and possibly a third, and this appeared to coincide with the sinking around 10 minutes later.
*  (1978) – Lost at sea, leaving only scattered wreckage and signs of sudden damage including extreme forces  above the water line. Although more than one wave was probably involved, this remains the most likely sinking due to a freak wave.
* Esso Languedoc (1980) – A  wave washed across the deck from the stern of the French supertanker near Durban, South Africa, and was photographed by the first mate, Philippe Lijour.
* Fastnet Lighthouse – Struck by a  wave in 1985
* Draupner wave (North Sea, 1995) – The first rogue wave confirmed with scientific evidence, it had a maximum height of .
* Queen Elizabeth 2 (1995) – Encountered a  wave in the North Atlantic, during Hurricane Luis. The master said it "came out of the darkness" and "looked like the White Cliffs of Dover." Newspaper reports at the time described the cruise liner as attempting to "surf" the near-vertical wave in order not to be sunk.