The Merchant Shipping (Cargo Ship Construction) Regulations 1997

Construction and testing of watertight bulkheads, decks and inner bottoms Requirements for ships constructed on or after 1st September 1984

8.—(1) In every ship each transverse and longitudinal watertight subdivision bulkhead shall be constructed in such a manner that it shall be capable of supporting the pressure due to the maximum head of water which it might have to sustain in the event of damage to the ship. The head of water shall be at least up to the freeboard deck.

(2) Steps and recesses in the bulkheads shall be watertight and of a strength equivalent to that of the bulkhead.

(3) Frames or beams that pass through a watertight deck or bulkhead shall be made structurally watertight without the use of wood or cement.

(4) Watertight compartments shall be tested either by flooding or by a hose test at the most advanced stage of the fitting out of the ship or by other means acceptable to the Certifying Authority, to establish that the watertight bulkheads are effective.

(5) The forepeak, double bottoms, duct keels and inner skins shall be tested by flooding with water to the head prescribed in paragraph (1).

(6) Tanks intended to hold liquids and which form part of the subdivision of the ship shall be tested by flooding with water to a head corresponding to the deepest subdivision load line or to two thirds of the depth from the top of the keel to the freeboard deck whichever is the greater. In no case shall the test head be less than 0.9 metres above the top of the tank.

(7) The tests prescribed in this regulation shall not necessarily be regarded as a test of fitness of any compartment for the storage of oil fuel or for other special purposes for which a test of a superior character may be appropriate.