DAMAGE CONTROL BOOKLET

M/V ___________ _______

IMO _________
INTRODUCTION
This Damage Control Booklet is based on the provisions
of MSC.1/Circ.919 & 1245 ( as applicable to vessels)
Guidelines for Damage Control Plans and
Information to the Master

TABLE OF CONTENT
(Insert Page numbers against each content after making the document ship specific)

No.

Description

Page

1. Ship Particulars
1.1

Ship Data

xx

1.2

Main Dimensions

xx

2. General Information
2.1

Purpose of the Damage Control Booklet

xx

2.2

Responsible Persons

xx

2.3

Immediate actions after Casualty

xx

2.4

Training of the Crew

xx

2.5

Stability limitations

xx

3. Ships Arrangement
3.1

Watertight Subdivision

xx

3.2

Watertight Doors

xx

3.3

Weather-tight Doors

xx

3.4

Small Weather-tight Hatches

xx

3.5

Weather tight Air-pipe heads

xx

3.6

Weather-tight Ventilation openings

xx

3.7

Piping Arrangement

xx

3.8

Valve Arrangement

xx

3.9

Pumping Arrangement

xx

4. Damage Control
4.1

Workflow of damage scenario

xx

4.2

Action to be taken in case of damage

xx

5. Summary of Damage Stability Calculations

5.1

Applicable Regulation

xx

5.2

Summary of Damage Stability Calculations

xx

6. Appendix
6.1

Damaged Compartment sounding check list

xx

6.2

Damage Control Plan

xx

6.3

Piping Diagram of Ballast & Bilge System

xx

6.4

Piping Diagram of heeling system

xx

6.5

Piping Diagram of air and sounding pipes

xx

6.6

Piping Diagram of fuel oil filing, transfer and overflow system

xx

Above Small scale drawings in the appendices are attached for schematic information only.For more
detail information and clear view, please refer to the Large scale drawings onboard.

1.
1.1

1.2

Ship Particulars
Ship Data
Ships Name
Ship Type
IMO Number
Classification Society
Class Notation

_______________
Container Vessel
__________
_______________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________

Flag
Port of Registry
Call Sign
Official number

___________
___________
_____
___________

Owner

________________________
________________________
________________________

Building Yard

________________________
________________________

Hull number
Keel Laying Date
Delivery Date

___
__.__.____
__.__.____

Main Dimensions
Length Overall
LOA
Length PP
LBP
Breadth (moulded)
B
Depth (moulded)
D
Design Draught (moulded)
Scantling Draught (moulded)

__
__
__
__
__
__

_
_
_
_
_
_

m
m
m
m
m
m

2
2.1

General Information
Purpose of the Damage Control Booklet

In the event of damage to the vessel, the information included in this booklet will be a help
and guidance for the officers in charge of the vessel, to assess the situation and to
determine the necessary actions to be taken in order to minimize the consequences caused
by the damage.
The procedures given in this booklet are guidance only. The Master should therefore
exercise prudence and good seamanship, when taking the necessary actions to salvage the
ship and preventing pollution of the environment.
The ship's officers should be aware that all reference drawings, used for further information
in case of damage, are very essential for preventing and/or minimizing from additional
flooding/loss of stability where if possible and for immediate action.
Therefore, all reference drawings/documents should be kept in the proper place or easily
accessible namely the, Trim & Stability Booklet, Damage Stability Calculations Booklet,
Damage Control Plan & Safety Plan.

2.2

Responsible Persons

The responsibilities are laid down as follows:

Overall responsibility
Initiating of necessary actions
Determination of extent of damage
Pumping operations
Evaluation of damage scenario
Information to external parties

2.3

Master
Master
Chief Officer
Chief Engineer
Ch.Off/2nd Off
Master/2nd Officer

Immediate action after casualty

It is to be assessed by the Master whether the damage case will lead to immediate
capsizing or sinking of the ship. For this assessment the present weather and sea
conditions shall be considered. In case the situation is judged as very critical and the ship is
in immediate danger of capsizing or sinking the ship has to be abandoned at once.
Otherwise personnel not working for the ships safety shall be ordered to stay at the rescue
boat/freefall rescue boat. All persons are ordered to wear life vests.

2.4

Training of the Crew

A high training level of the crew ensures quick and appropriate action in case of damage.

Every crew member shall be familiar with the arrangement of the vessel and the necessary
actions in case of damage such as location of watertight doors and hatches as well as
weather tight opening points, piping and pumping arrangement furthermore the calculation
with the loading computer and others.
Besides the knowledge about the vessels arrangement, clear communication procedures
shall be stipulated in order to insure an impeccable workflow.

2.5

Stability limitations (KG limit curve)

In order to ensure compliance with the applicable stability requirements, the stability limit
curve as seen below has to be observed in all loading conditions, ensuring that the actual
KG falls within the allowed area.
INSERT THE PAGES GIVING THE GM/KG LIMIT CURVE/TABLE HERE (e.g of graph is given
below)
The page will be available in the Loading Manual/Trim and stability booklet under KG
LIMIT CURVE OR MINIMUM GM CURVE TO MEET STABILITY CRITERIA.

3
3.1

Ships Arrangement
Watertight Subdivision

(INSERT PLANs OF COMPARTMENTS AND WATERTIGHT SUBDIVISION and brief details of

the framings as shown in example below (e.g of subdivision plan is given below)
The watertight subdivision is defined by 7 transverse bulkheads at the frames 5/19, 67,
105, 141, 197, 235, and 266. The double bottom is situated 1.65/4.558 m above base line
in front of frame 66 and 2.385 m aft of frame 63.
The plan will be available in the Damage Stability Booklet or Trim and Stability Booklet
(Loading Manual).

3.2

Watertight Doors

Watertight openings: These openings withstand a permanent high water pressure with
corresponding type approval of its closing appliances.
Watertight hinged doors and hatches are to be kept closed while at sea. The use of these
doors/hatches shall be authorized by the officer of the watch. After use these
doors/hatches are to be closed immediately. For the information of the crew a respective
notice has been affixed on each such door/hatch.
Watertight doors are shown in the Damage Control Plan (Refer Appendix 5.2)
Closing status on all watertight doors is shown on the control panel on the bridge.
(If available)
Refer to plan of List and Drawings of Relevant Openings given in the Damage Stability
Plan or Damage Stability Booklet/Calculations or Trim and Stability Booklet (Loading
Manual).

3.3

Weather-tight Doors

Weather tight openings: Such openings are able to withstand spray water only (splash
proof).
Weather-tight doors are shown in the Damage Control Plan (Refer Appendix 5.2)
All weather-tight doors are to be closed immediately in case of damage.
Refer to plan of List and Drawings of Relevant Openings given in the Damage Stability
Plan or Damage Stability Booklet/Calculations or Trim and Stability Booklet (Loading
Manual).

3.4

Small Weather-tight Hatches

Weather tight openings: Such openings are able to withstand spray water only (splash
proof).
Weather-tight hatches are shown in the Damage Control Plan (Refer Appendix 5.2)
All weather-tight hatches are to be closed immediately in case of damage.
Refer to plan of List and Drawings of Relevant Openings given in the Damage Stability
Plan or Damage Stability Booklet/Calculations or Trim and Stability Booklet (Loading
Manual).

3.5

Weathertight Air-pipe heads

Weather tight openings: Such openings are able to withstand spray water only .

Weather-tight air pipes are shown in the Damage Control Plan (Refer Appendix 5.2).
Refer to plan of List and Drawings of Relevant Openings given in the Damage Stability
Plan or Damage Stability Booklet/Calculations or Trim and Stability Booklet (Loading
Manual).

3.6

Weather-tight Ventilation openings

Weather tight openings: Such openings are able to withstand spray water only.
Weather-tight ventilation openings are shown in the Damage Control Plan (Refer Appendix
5.2)
All weather-tight ventilation openings are to be closed immediately in case of damage.
Refer to plan of List and Drawings of Relevant Openings given in the Damage Stability
Plan or Damage Stability Booklet/Calculations or Trim and Stability Booklet (Loading
Manual).
(INSERT LIST OF ALL THE RELEVANT OPENINGS HERE FOR item 3.2 TO 3.6 as shown in
example below)

3.7

Piping Arrangement

Reference is made to the Piping arrangement Diagrams in Appendices.

3.8

Valve Arrangement

Reference is made to the Piping arrangement Diagrams in Appendices.

3.9

Pumping Arrangement (Pump Capacity Table)

The following pumps are available:

(LIST ALL THE PUMPS AVAILABLE FOR PUMPING OUT WATER FROM ANY COMPARTMENT
ONBOARD)
CAPACITY

NAME
1) E/R Bilge
Pump

25cbm/hr

2) Cargo Hold

xxcbm/hr

QUANTITY
1

3)
4)
1)E/R Bilge Pump
: __________
: __________
: __________

2)Cargo Hold Bilge Pump

Maker
Type
Model

Engine Room

CONTROL
POSITION
Ship's Office,
ECR

Bilge Pump

Maker
Type
Model

LOCATION

: ___________
: ___________
: ___________

( LIST ALL THE PUMPS DETAILS IN ABOVE)

Damage Control

4
4.1

Workflow of damage scenario

Occurrence of Damage

Inform the fact of the damage to all Ship Staff & Shore Organization
All crew standby on their position and reduce the speed

Close all watertight and weathertight closing appliances and valves in piping (Refer Appendix)
Check Damage extent and Sounding position( Refer section 4.2)

Check Sounding of the damaged compartment (Use Appendix 5.1)

Calculate the flooding rate

YES
If Pump Capacity >
Flooding Rate

Continue pumping out

NO
Find the final flooding condition based on pre defined damage scenario (Refer -Damage Stability Booklet)

NO

Finished Fooding

YES
Prepare the extreme loading condition in order to reduce trim and heel. Check strength and stability
considering free surface moments, by use of trim & Stability Booklet and/or loading computer

Inform the current situation to Head Office

Take a necessary action based on the extreme loading condition

and advice from Office.

4.2
4.3.1

Action to be taken in case of damage

Immediate Closing of all watertight and weathertight closing appliances.

When a damage has occurred or a damage is suspected, primary action is to sustain the
individual watertight boundary by closing all watertight & weathertight doors/openings, and
then to prevent the progressive flooding of intact compartment through the valves which is
interconnected with damaged compartments as follows.
1) Ships watertight boundary to be confirmed by inboard profile, plan views of each deck
and midship section in the damage control plan (Dwg. No. : XXXXXXXX)
2) The locations of all internal watertight closing appliances and their controls and the
locations of their local and remote controls, position indicators and alarms to be confirmed.
3) All watertight closing appliances including those watertight closing appliances which are
allowed to be opened during the navigation according to SOLAS regulation II-1/15 or 25-9
(as applicable) to be immediately closed.
4) The locations of all weather tight closing appliances in local subdivision boundaries above
the bulkhead deck and on the lowest exposed weather decks, together with locations of
control stand position indicators, if applicable, to be checked and closed.
5) The locations of all bilge and ballast pumps, their control positions and associated valves
to be controlled to prevent the adverse effect of ships safety and progressive flooding.
6) Pipes, ducts or tunnels, if any, through which limited progressive flooding has been
accepted by the Administration to be deemed as aboves.
7) The locations of all doors in the shell of the ship, position indicators, leakage detection
and surveillance devices to be considered.
If it is necessary in view of the operations, to open any watertight or watertight door or
hatch again, It should be carefully judged whether the door or hatch in question is deemed
crucial in order to prevent progressive flooding. If it is found acceptable to open the door or
hatch, it should be closed immediately after use.

4.3.2

Closing of Valves.

All valves in the piping system are to be closed immediately, as far as the connected pipes
are not used for pumping operations.

4.3.3

Check the extent of the damage.

If possible, visual check of the damage and the included compartment(s) shall be carried
out.

4.3.4
Sounding of flooded compartments.
In order to determine the severity of the damage, the damage extent and the flooding rate
should be determined. A status report on all tank soundings should be taken immediately
after the damage. Also any other compartment in the damaged region should be checked
with respect to inflow of seawater. The result should be compared to the tank sounding
report prior to the damage. The tanks where the sounding has changed significantly are
damaged. Tank sounding reports should be made regularly in the time after the damage
has occurred. By comparing the sounding reports, it is possible to determine when the final
floating position is reached. This position is reached when the consecutive sounding reports

remain unchanged. It is also possible to determine the flooding rate for the different
compartments by comparing the sounding reports. The flooding rate for a tank is the
difference in tank volume between two soundings divided by the time between the
soundings. The flooding rate can be used to estimate the time until final flooding position is
reached. In case a compartment is connected to the remote sounding system the amount
of in flooded water can be determined directly. By a periodical measurement of the
sounding for damaged compartments and comparison with the draught readings a
calculation of the in flooding water per time (flooding rate) can be made. Draught
measurements at the forward, mid and aft draught marks shall be performed, additional
the heeling angle shall be noted.

4.3.5

Use of pumps. (Refer Chapter 3.9 and Piping Diagram in the Appendix)

One pump in the water (ballast system and one pump in bilge system are available for
pumping out water from compartments which have been damaged. Additionally one
combined pump for water ballast system or bilge system is available.
Two scenarios may arise:
1 The amount of inflooding water exceeds the capacity of the available pumps. In this
case the compartment must be isolated by closing all watertight accesses (including
valves in the piping system).
2 The pump capacity exceeds the rate of inflooded water therefore the pumping shall
be continued permanently.
The pumps shall be held in a permanent stand-by modus and ready for service at any time.

4.3.6

Use of Loading Computer.

For determining possible scenarios of liquid transfer operations, the loading computer might
be used. Restrictions of the ability of the Loading Computer are to be considered.
The use of a Loading Computer for an estimation of the stability after damage is very
restricted as common loading instruments are not able to calculate damage stability in a
correct way. - Any calculation which has been carried out with a normal Loading Computer
intended for intact calculation should be regarded as a very rough estimation only. Such
results should be treated with utmost caution!
In case the loading instrument is capable of calculating damage stability, the exact loading
condition prior to the accident and the actual extent of damage shall be considered.

4.3.7
Liquid transfer Operations.
Liquid transfer operations may be used in order to minimize the adverse effects in the
aspects of ships stability and strength due to damage.
Prior to this operation, the locations and arrangements of cross-flooding systems, blow-out
plugs and any mechanical means to correct list due to flooding, together with the locations
of all valves and remote controls, if any, to be investigated for good judgment and correct
operation.

If possible, water should be pumped out from the damaged compartments. If the flooding
rate is greater than the pump capacity, this is not sufficient. Then it may be necessary to
fill or discharge other tanks in order to reduce trim and heel. To reduce the heel water
should be pumped into the tanks on the opposite side of the damage compartments, and to
reduce trim water should be filled in tanks in the opposite end of the vessel. Filling of slack
tanks will reduce the free surface effect, and therefore improve the stability.
Before any filling or discharging of water ballast is carried out, a thorough check and precalculation of the resulting floating position is to be carried out and the limit values for
stability and longitudinal strength are to be checked.
The crew must be aware that filling or discharging of water ballast tanks can have negative
influence on the stability due to the effect of free surfaces for partially filled tanks
For this reason it is strongly recommended before liquid transfer operations are carried out,
support from the Office is obtained.

4.3.8
Determination of ground condition (in case of grounding only).
The local coast guard and the owner of the vessel shall be informed about the present
situation. A possible outflow of oil should be stated immediately.
All information about damage extent, floating position and loading condition prior to
damage shall be forwarded to the Office in order to get support in determining the severity
of the damage and to determine the necessary actions to be taken.

4.3.9
Information to Owner/Coast Guard (if applicable)
The local coast guard and the owner of the vessel shall be informed about the present
situation. A possible outflow of oil should be stated immediately.
All information about damage extent, floating position and loading condition prior to
damage shall be forwarded to Office in order to get support in determining the severity of
the damage and to determine the necessary actions to be taken.

Summary of Damage Stability Calculations

5.1 Applicable Regulation

The vessel complies with the requirements as laid down in SOLAS under
Chapter II-1 Construction - Structure, subdivision and stability.
Limitations and assumptions in damage stability calculation
The a.m. regulation for the damage stability calculation is based on a probabilistic concept
which means that each possible damage extent (in longitudinal, transverse and vertical
direction) is considered with its probability acc. to standardized formulas.
It should be noted that for this kind of damage stability analysis several assumptions have
been made (e.g. permeability of the cargo hold, observed draughts). The calculated results
according to the regulations can differ significantly from results of real damages of an
actual loading condition.
When reviewing the presented damage stability calculations, in order to get information
about the survivability in the actual damage situation, it is important to keep in mind that
these calculations are based on a certain set of assumptions.
GM values
The GM values used in the damage stability calculations are theoretical minimum values.
The vessel is not allowed to operate with a lower GM than the values used in the
calculations. Therefore, the GM in the actual loading condition will be different from what is
shown in the calculations.
Draughts and trim
The draughts, for which the damage stability is calculated, are defined by the rules. Further
the calculations are always carried out for the even keel condition. The initial loading
condition will therefore be different from the actual condition of the vessel.
Damage extent
The damage extent applied in the damage stability calculations is probably not the same as
the actual damage extent. The result will therefore also be different.
Permeability
The damage stability calculations are based on standard permeabilitys for the different
compartments. The actual permeability will be different because of different content and
structure of the different compartments. The permeability will influence on the amount of
flooded water, and thereby the final equilibrium after damage.
Weather conditions
The damage stability calculations do not take the weather conditions into account. Wind
and waves will put additional forces and heeling moments to the vessel, and hence reduce
the stability margins. Progressive flooding may also occur if any openings are immersed in
the waves.
Longitudinal strength
Flooding of compartments / loss of buoyancy will also influence on the longitudinal strength
of the vessel. This is not covered by the damage stability calculations.

5.2 Cases of Damage Stability Calculation

INSERT THE EXAMPLES OR LIST OUT THE DAMAGE CASES( IF AVAILABLE) AS GIVEN IN
THE DAMAGE STABILITY BOOKLET or TRIM AND STABILITY BOOKLET.( AS SHOWN IN
EXAMPLE BELOW)

APPENDIX.

6.1 Damaged Compartment sounding check list

Compartment & Tank Name:
Checking time

Sounding (M)

_______________________________
Volume (M3)

Weight (MT)

Flooding Rate

Remarks

6.2 Damage Control Plan

6.3 Piping Diagram of Ballast & Bilge System

6.4 Piping Diagram of Heeling System

6.5 Piping Diagram of Air and Sounding Pipes

6.6 Piping Diagram of Fuel oil Filling, Transfer and Overflow

system