What percentage of immersion suits must the cutter carry based on available berthing?

• A. 100%
• B. 125%
• C. 150%
• D. 175%

Answer: (B)

Having enough immersion suits relies on creating a margin above the number of people the berthing can support, so everyone can don a suit quickly in an emergency and there are spare suits for contingencies. The rule uses available berthing as the baseline because that shows how many people could be aboard during normal operations, and you want a cushion beyond that to cover surprises without delaying response.

The correct approach is to carry 125% of available berthing. That means for every 100 berthing spaces, you store 125 immersion suits. The extra 25% acts as a cushion for situations like additional personnel on board, replacements for suits that are damaged or missing, and to ensure a rapid, coordinated donning during an abandoning-ship scenario.

For example, if there are 100 berthing spaces, you would have 125 immersion suits. Carrying only the exact number of berths (100) would leave no spare suits for contingencies, while carrying significantly more (like 150 or 175%) would exceed standard requirements and waste space and resources.