(a) The marine-safety statutes and other statutes impose criminal and civil penalties for violating the applicable provisions of this subchapter. Possible sanctions include:

(1) Assessment and collection of civil monetary penalty.

(2) Criminal prosecution, where no loss of life results.

(3) Criminal prosecution for manslaughter, where loss of life results from violating marine-safety statutes or regulations or from misconduct, negligence, or inattention to duty.

(4) Libel against vessel.

(b) 46 U.S.C. Chapter 77 allows, in addition to the foregoing, the suspension or revocation of credentials licenses, certificates, or documents issued by the Coast Guard, for incompetence, misconduct, or negligence or for violating marine-safety statutes or regulations.

Each master and mate shall acquaint himself or herself with the latest information published by the Coast Guard and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency regarding aids to navigation in the area in which the vessel operates.

No person may be in the pilothouse while the vessel is under way, unless connected with the navigation of the vessel or authorized for good cause by the master or mate on watch.

Each vessel must carry the personnel required by the Certificate of Inspection, as determined by the cognizant OCMI, based on an evaluation under part 15 of this chapter.

The master of the vessel shall ensure compliance with each provision of the Certificate of Inspection. Nothing in this subchapter prevents the master's diverting the vessel from the route prescribed in the Certificate, or taking other steps necessary and prudent to assist vessels in distress or to handle similar emergencies.

If the Coast Guard issues a stability letter under § 170.120 of this chapter, the letter must be readily available to the person on watch in the pilothouse of the vessel.

Each vessel must be operated in compliance with—

(a) Section 311 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (33 U.S.C. 1321); and

(b) 33 CFR parts 151, 155, and 156.

Each vessel with installed toilet facilities must have a marine sanitation device in compliance with 33 CFR part 159.

Each vessel must have a permanently exhibited, for the guidance of the master and crew members, general arrangement plans showing, for each deck, the various fire-retardant bulkheads together with particulars of the—

(a) Fire-detection systems;

(b) Manual-alarm systems;

(c) Fire-extinguishing systems;

(d) Fire doors;

(e) Means of ingress to the different compartments; and

(f) Ventilating-systems, including the—

(1) Positions of the dampers;

(2) Site of the remote means of stopping the fans; and

(3) Identification of the fans serving each section.

(a) Each vessel must have readily available to the person on watch in the pilothouse a placard (Form CG-811) containing instructions—

(1) For the use of lifesaving signals set forth in Regulation 16, Chapter V, of SOLAS 74/83; and

(2) In helicopter recovery.

(b) The signals must be employed by vessels or persons in distress when communicating with lifesaving stations and maritime rescue units.

Each officer on a vessel must conspicuously display his or her license or officer endorsements as required by 46 U.S.C. 7110.

When the automatic pilot is used in areas of high traffic density, conditions of restricted visibility, or any other hazardous navigational situations, the master shall ensure that—

(a) It is possible to immediately establish manual control of the vessel's steering;

(b) A competent person is ready at all times to take over steering control; and

(c) The changeover from automatic to manual control of the vessel's steering and the reverse is made by, or under the supervision of, the master or officer of the watch.

No vessel may sound its whistle within any harbor limits of the United States unless it needs to.

No master of a vessel may authorize or permit the vessel's carrying of any lighting not required by law that will interfere in any way with any other vessel's ability to distinguish the vessel's navigation lighting.

No person may flash, or cause to be flashed, the rays of a searchlight or other blinding light onto the bridge or into the pilothouse of any vessel, OSV or other, under way.

Nothing in this part exonerates any master or officer of the watch from the consequences of any neglect to keep a proper lookout or to maintain a proper fire watch, or of any neglect of any precaution that may be required by the ordinary practice of seamen, by general prudence, or by the special circumstances of the case. Each master shall set added watches when necessary to guard against fire or other danger and to give an alarm in case of accident or disaster.

This section applies to OSVs of at least 6,000 GT ITC (500 GRT if GT ITC is not assigned).

(a) The following maneuvering information must be prominently displayed in the pilothouse on a fact sheet:

(1) For full and half speed, a turning circle diagram to port and starboard that shows the time and the distance of advance and transfer required to alter the course 90 degrees with maximum rudder angle and constant power settings.

(2) The time and distance to stop the vessel from full and half speed while maintaining approximately the initial heading with minimum application of rudder.

(3) For each vessel with a fixed propeller, a table of shaft revolutions per minute for a representative range of speeds.

(4) For each vessel with a controllable pitch propeller, a table of control settings or a representative range of speeds.

(5) For each vessel that is fitted with an auxiliary device to assist in maneuvering, such as a bow thruster, a table of vessel speeds at which the auxiliary device is effective in maneuvering the vessel.

(b) The maneuvering information must be provided in the normal load and normal light condition with normal trim for a particular condition of loading, assuming the following:

(1) Calm weather—wind 10 knots or less, calm sea.

(2) No current.

(3) Deep water conditions—water depth twice the vessel's draft or more.

(4) Clean hull.

(c) At the bottom of the fact sheet, the following statement must appear:

(1) Warning, the response of the [NAME OF THE VESSEL] may be different from those listed above if any of the following conditions, upon which the maneuvering information is based, are varied:

(i) Calm weather—wind 10 knots or less, calm sea.

(ii) No current.

(iii) Deep water conditions—water depth twice the vessel's draft or more.

(iv) Clean hull.

(v) Intermediate drafts or unusual trim.

(d) The information on the fact sheet must be—

(1) Verified 6 months after the vessel is placed into service; or

(2) Modified 6 months after the vessel is placed into service and verified within 3 months thereafter.

(e) The information that appears on the fact sheet may be obtained from—

(1) Trial trip observations;

(2) Model tests;

(3) Analytical calculations;

(4) Simulations;

(5) Information established from another vessel of similar hull form, power, rudder and propeller; or

(6) Any combination of the above.

(f) The accuracy of the information on the fact sheet must be at a level comparable with that attainable by ordinary shipboard navigation equipment.

(g) The requirements for information for fact sheets for specialized craft, such as semi-submersibles and other vessels of unusual design, will be specified on a case-by-case basis.