I was not onboard MELBOURNE in 1979, however when onboard it was 'fun' to see inch tops of green Pacific swell wash down the catapult track whilst waiting for the GO! from the FDO. The Pacific Ocean is notorious for the long cycle swells. There is a classic section in a video about CVN flight ops with Hornets in the INDIAN OCEAN trying to accommodate these long cycle SWELLs, especially at night. A CVN deck is about 65 feet off the water while the MELBOURNE deck was about 37 feet (my approximations). There are photos of the tops of waves blowing down a CVN deck. Life on the bounding main.
