🔍 Key Concepts

• Floodable volume and how it relates to damage stability • Definition of permeability in naval architecture (think about empty vs. full spaces) • Difference between a geometric point (like center of flotation) and a property of the space (like how much water can get in)

💭 Think About

• Ask yourself: which option sounds like a ratio or percentage describing how much of a space can actually be filled with water? • Consider what happens when a compartment floods: do we care more about a specific point on the vessel, or about how much of that compartment’s internal space can be occupied by water? • Eliminate any choices that are clearly about stability points or standards for the ship as a whole, rather than the characteristics of a single compartment’s volume or surface area.

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify which term is defined in damage-stability texts as a percentage of the internal volume of a space that may be filled with seawater • Check that the term you pick is used to calculate floodable length or damaged stability, not to locate a point on the waterplane • Make sure the choice you select is about a property of a compartment’s volume/area, not about how many compartments can flood or where the vessel floats