Ship's floating equipment consists of row boats, pulling and sailing boats and self-propelled launches.

Pulling and sailing boats consist of launches, ship's boats, life boats and yawls (except for two-oar) and pulling boats (row boats) consist of two-oar yawls, dinghies and inflatable rubber boats. The seaworthiness and passenger capacity of row boats and pulling and sailing boats are shown in Table 23.

The following types of self-propelled ship's launches are involved in supplying ships of the Soviet Navy:

1) small ship's launches, used to supply warships up to and including destroyers, as well as auxiliary vessels. They have a seaworthiness of up to 4 and a passenger capacity of 4;

2) large ship's launches, used to supply cruisers and other ships of the first rank. They have a seaworthiness of up to 5 and a passenger capacity of up to 11; 3) small service craft-open wooden launches. They have a seaworthiness of up to 4 and a passenger capacity of 18.

Use of ship's floating equipment. When launches (or boats) are dispatched from a warship, the officer of the watch must be sure that the officer (petty officer) in charge of the launch (or boat) fully understands his mission, and that the launch (or boat) contains all the necessary authorized equipment and that the hull machinery is in proper operating condition.

Whenever a launch (or boat) is dispatched, the officer of the watch must make sure that it contains the necessary number of oarsmen, signaling devices and, in the case of a motor launch, moreover, sufficient reserves of fuel, water and authorized fire fighting equipment. Whenever a launch (or boat) is dispatched beyond the confines of a harbor or roadstead, the officer of the watch must make sure it contains a compass with a deviation table, chart or map of the area and boat anchor with boat cable.

Ship's floating equipment may be dispatched from a ship only by order of the Commanding Officer, Executive Officer, political officer and officer of the watch. Launches (or boats) should never be overloaded. The loading or passenger capacity of each in fresh weather should be determined. This information should be painted on the deckhouse on launches and inside the transom on boats. Officers of the watch, Commanding Officers and petty officers in charge of launches (or boats) must have a knowledge of these details.

The loading capacity of ship's boats, in transporting compact and small cargoes, is designed on the basis of 80 kg of cargo instead of one transportable passenger or oarsman.

2. Individual Lifesaving Devices

Life jackets are made of compact cotton (in the lining) or rubber. In the former, with a buoyancy of 18 kg, there are pockets between the lining and the top (in the back, chest and under the armpits), containing airtight pockets made of polyvinylchloride masticated rubber, filled with cotton wadding or combings.

Rubber life jackets have a buoyancy of 50 kg. They are inflated by mouth through a rubber tube, which is closed with a stopper after the jacket is filled with air.

Life vests are constructed similarly to the cotton jacket, but have sleeves and a collar. A life vest has a buoyancy of approximately 20 kg.

Life belts consist of belts sewn together in two layers of canvas with pockets filled with layers of cork or chopped up cork. The life belt has a buoyancy of 18 kg.

Life rings are sewn with canvas and filled with cork. The ring weighs about 6 kg, with a buoyancy of 14 kg. A safety belt can support two men in the water, each of whom should hold on to the lifeline beckets.

Lifebuoys consist, as a rule, of a cork float sewn with canvas and a rod with a small pennant to which a float is attached.

3. Collective Lifesaving Devices

Life rafts are either inflatable or rigid. Rigid rafts are in turn subdivided into metal, light alloy and plastic types.

A rigid life raft is a polyhedral float with a metal or wooden floor. The interior of a rigid raft is filled with a floating material or divided by partitions into a number of watertight compartments. A lifeline with floats is fastened around the raft.

An inflatable fabric raft is made of vulcanized material. Its hull is divided into compartments by fabric partitions. A life line with floats is fastened around the raft. The raft contains a balloon filled with compressed air (sometimes carbon dioxide), which is automatically inflated when it is dropped into the water.

The inflatable raft is designed for a deck area of 0.5 m2 per man. Specifications for a rigid raft: buoyancy tanks with a volume of not less than 0.085 m3 and a deck area of 0.372 m2 per man.

Life boats-wooden boats (whale boats) without a transom, with watertight buoyancy tanks, used on auxiliary vessels.

The oars on the life boats are single-banked and the rig is considerably smaller than on pulling and sailing boats of the same size. The seaworthiness of the life boats is unlimited. Maximum capacity of life boats: life boat 1-10 men; life boat 3-16 men; life boat 4-20 men; life boat 7-36 men and life boat 8-42

men.

The ship's company uses lifesaving equipment in accordance with a special quarter bill.

CHAPTER X

BRIEF INFORMATION ON INTERNATIONAL

MARITIME LAW

SECTION 59. INLAND WATERS

The legal regime of inland waters is regulated under the national laws of the coastal States.

The inland waters are part of the State territory and are totally under the sovereignty* of the appropriate States. According to the 1958 Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, adopted in Geneva (Switzerland), the inland waters of States consist of the following:

1) gulfs and bays with an entrance width of not more than 24 nautical miles;

2) historic bays, irrespective of the entrance width, such as: Concale (France); Bristol, Moray Firth and Conception (Great Britain); Fundy, Chesapeake and Delaware (USA); Hudson, Chaleurs and Miramichi (Canada); Gulf of Riga and Peter the Great Bay (USSR), etc.;

3) the waters of estuaries and around skerries;

4) the waters of roadsteads, bays, harbors and ports;

5) inland waters (for example, the Azov and White Seas in the USSR; Bali, Flores, Savu and Seram Seas in Indonesia, etc.).

The outer limit of the inland waters is a line drawn between the outermost capes, rocks, skerries and permanent harbor works.

The coastal limit of the inland waters consists of the low-water line. The legal regime of warships in foreign inland waters is essentially as follows.

As a rule, foreign merchant vessels and warships are permitted in ports of call open to them. A list of such ports is announced by the coastal States in Notices to Mariners. Naval bases, as well as ports servicing ships engaged in coastal navigation, are not open to foreign warships and merchant vessels.

Warships may call in waters and ports in accordance with rules established by the coastal States.

As a rule, warships are permitted in foreign inland waters with authorization from the government of the appropriate country. Submarines may call only while surfaced.

*Sovereignty: complete independence of States in their external and internal affairs.

Warships also have the right to call at ports of the coastal State or ride at anchor at a point of refuge from a storm in event of unusual circumstances, such as an emergency or heavy storm threatening shipwreck; a sick man aboard requiring medical assistance; inadequate provisions, fuel, water, i.e., under force of circumstances. The Commanding Officer of the ship reports such an emergency call to his command and informs the naval (military) attaché or consul of his country, if there are any in the port of call.

Under all of these circumstances, the laws and rules of the coastal State must be observed and the instructions of representatives of local authorities must be carried out. Warships in foreign waters possess total immunity from interference by the foreign State in the internal affairs of the ship. They are not subject to customs and sanitary inspections by foreign authorities."

*

Only those cargoes which are designated for unloading ashore from the warship are subjected to customs inspection and a duty imposed.

Warships in port must observe navigation rules and the rules governing use of radio gear and sonars. In ports it is forbidden to conduct combat exercises, to make sketches and photographs of objects of military and governmental significance, to take depth soundings and to launch aircraft.

In event of violation of established rules by a warship, competent authorities of the State may bring this to the attention of the Commanding Officer of the ship and, in an extreme case, demand that the ship leave the port or waters of that State.

The legal status of crewmen of a warship on the shore of a foreign State is determined in accordance with the following basic provisions:

**

1) crewmen ashore on duty, violating the laws of their host country, enjoy immunity from local jurisdiction and are held liable under the laws of own State;

2) members of a crew ashore but not on duty (liberty, etc.) who have committed serious infractions are usually held liable under the laws of the host country. For crimes or violations not involving criminal liability the violators are handed over to the Commanding Officer of the ship for punishment under his authority.

The Commanding Officer of a ship is the official representative of his State and, while continuously performing official duties, enjoys total immunity. He is exclusively responsible under the laws of his own country for his activities. In event of violation or illegal restriction of the rights of a warship by authorities of the coastal State, the Commanding Officer of the warship is justified in lodging a protest with them and, in order to resolve the conflict, establishes direct contact with the diplomatic representative of his State.

*A written report, signed by the Commanding Officer of the ship and a physician, is substituted for a sanitary inspection.

**Jurisdiction is subordination to the laws of the appropriate State and its competent authorities.