SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA C23 



Regulation 5 



Permissible Length of Compartments 



{a) Ships shall be as eflBciently subdivided as is possible having regard to 

 the nature of the service for which they are intended. The degree of sub- 

 division shall vary with the length of the ship and with the service, in such 

 manner that the highest degree of subdivision corresponds with the ships of 

 greatest length, primarily engaged in the carriage of passengers. 



{b) Factor of Subdivision. — The maximum permissible length of a compart- 

 ment having its centre at any point in the ship's length is obtained from the 

 floodable length by multiplying the latter by an appropriate factor called the 

 factor of subdivision. 



The factor of subdivision shall depend on the length of the ship, and for 

 a given length shall vary according to the nature of the service for which the 

 ship is intended. It shall decrease in a regular and continuous manner — 



(i) as the length of the ship increases, and 



(ii) from a factor A, applicable to ships primarily engaged in the carriage 

 of cargo, to a factor B, applicable to ships primarily engaged in the 

 carriage of passengers. 



The variations of the factors A and B shall be expressed by the following 

 formulae (I) and (II) where L is the length of the ship as defined in 

 Regulation 2 of this Chapter: 



L in feet 



A = ^^^ + -18 (L=430 and 



L— 198 upwards) 



L in metres 



I 



A = -^?^+18 (L=131 and 



L— 60 upwards) (I) 



L in feet 



B ^ 100 _^ . jg (L=260 and 



L— 138 upwards) 



L in metres 



B^ 30'3 I .jg (L=79 and 



L— 42 upwards) (II) 



(c) Criterion of Service. — For a ship of given length the appropriate factor 

 of subdivision shall be determined by the Criterion of Service Numeral 

 (hereinafter called the Criterion Numeral) as given by the following formulae 

 (III) and (IV) where: — 



C,=the Criterion Numeral; 



L= length of the ship, as defined in Regulation 2 of this Chapter; 



Ch. 2 



