system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: why do large ships have their anchors in the bow and not the stern or either port or starboard sides?

I went to the USS Midway today, and my dad swore the whole time that the anchors were located in the stern, but once we got off I pointed out how they were in the bow. We racked our brains for about a half hour but couldn't really figure out why that was.
gpt
The anchor acts as a pivot point when it's down, so the wind and currents will tend to push the boat "downwind" of the anchor.

You generally want to have water flowing front-to-back on a boat, not back-to-front.  They're typically not designed to take a lot of wave action from the stern.