Abstract: Container ships are relatively weak in terms of structure strength against wave because of large deck opening.The simulation scheme for structure collapse response of a container ship to wave is developed based on 3D potential theory and nonlinear finite element method.The 3D potential theory is used to calculate the wave and the nonlinear finite element method to calculate the structure collapse response.A typical container ship is studied.The Hydrodynamic model and the nonlinear finite element model fit for structure collapse response simulation are built for the container ship.The time-domain midship large rotational deformation curve under a variety of sea states is calculated and the relation between large rotational deformation and nonlinear bending moment for the ship is further found through the middle section nonlinear finite element calculation.The time-domain nonlinear bending moment is mapped to the ship hull model and, in this way, the collapse response to wave is made quantitively known.