🔍 Key Concepts

• Vessel Bridge-to-Bridge Radiotelephone Act in 33 CFR Part 26 • The purpose of the radiotelephone on required vessels (safety of navigation and collision avoidance) • What the law treats as a violation versus an operational casualty/failure

💭 Think About

• Think about the main purpose of the Bridge-to-Bridge Act: is it to punish equipment breakdowns or to ensure proper use of the equipment when it is working? • If a radio stops working at sea, what would be practical and realistic expectations for the vessel’s master—can every failure result in immediate anchoring or emergency repairs? • Which options sound like automatic legal consequences, and which sound more like a description of how the law views an equipment failure by itself?

✅ Before You Answer

• Check 33 CFR Part 26 language on when a violation occurs—is it tied to not having equipment, not maintaining a watch, or simply to a mechanical failure? • Ask whether the Act explicitly requires immediate anchoring or emergency repairs after any failure, or whether that would be handled under general good seamanship and other regulations instead. • Distinguish between an equipment malfunction and misuse or non-use of required equipment—how does the Act treat each?