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Respecting Assistance and Salvage at Sea, the 1958 Convention on the High Seas, the 1960 Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea* and the national legislation of coastal States.

General provisions regarding warships and merchant vessels are as follows: 1) after a collision, effective measures are undertaken with the aid of visual and acoustic signals to stop the violating ship if she attempts to hide (to evade responsibility);

2) after the collision, assistance is rendered to the other ship, her crew and passengers, if own ship, her crew or passengers are not exposed to serious danger, and notice is given of the nationality and name of own ship or her port of registry, and the nearest port at which she will be calling;

3) a bilateral certificate of collision or other accident (sideswiping, etc.) is drawn up (at the site of the accident, if possible);

4) warships (merchant vessels) must render assistance to anyone discovered at sea in danger of his life, and proceed with all possible speed to the assistance of those who are lost, if it has been communicated to the warship (merchant vessel) that they require her assistance;

5) also draw up a bilateral rescue certificate on the rendering of assistance to the merchant vessel (warship) in distress (a rescue contract prepared by the Maritime Arbitration Commission of the All-Union Chamber of Commerce in Moscow).

The national legislation of many States confirms the right of warships to just compensation for every certificate of assistance or rescue by them with a useful result.** In no event is compensation paid for the rescue of people, since these actions represent an age-old maritime custom and a gratuitous duty of every ship and mariner.

In order to render more effective assistance at sea, as provided for in the Convention on the High Seas, the USSR has concluded special agreements with Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland, the German Democratic Republic, Rumania, Bulgaria, Norway, Japan, the People's Republic of China and the People's Republic of Korea.

Drawing up certificates on collision and rendering assistance at sea. The engine log, as well as the bilateral certificate signed by the Commanding Officers (masters) of the colliding ships or those rendering or receiving assistance, contains a detailed statement of all actions and orders of the Commanding Officer of the warship and master of the merchant vessel prior to collision, at the

*For the texts of the aforementioned Conventions, see Sbornik mezhdunarodnykh konventsiy, dogovorov, soglasheniy i pravil po voprosam torgovogo moreplavaniya (Compendium of International Conventions, Treaties, Agreements and Rules on Questions of Commercial Navigation), Moscow, "Morskoy Transport" Publishing House, 1959, and the 1960 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, Leningrad, "Morskoy Transport" Publishing House, 1963.

**For ordinary towing, charges are levied, but compensation is not paid and a rescue contract is not drawn up. By ordinary towing is meant the towing of a merchant vessel (warship) not threatened with real danger of loss or shipwreck.

moment of collision and thereafter, as well as their actions and orders in rendering assistance to those overboard.

The aforementioned papers contain the following: the nationality and name of the ship, surnames of the Commanding Officers (masters) and their ranks, meteorological and hydrological conditions, speed (at various moments before collision), signals given and running lights (at various moments prior to collision), angle of collision, nature and extent of damage, approximate cost of the loss, measures taken to render assistance, and the time and resources expended in the process.*

In event of refusal by the Commanding Officer (master) of the foreign vessel to draw up a certificate or the impossibility of drawing up a bilateral certificate, the Commanding Officer of the warship draws up a detailed unilateral certificate and presents it to higher authority for submission of appropriate claims, through diplomatic and other channels, to arbitration or judicial organs.

In all cases, drawings, sketches and-where possible-photographs are appended to maritime accident certificates.

SECTION 62. CONTIGUOUS (SPECIAL) ZONES

The legal regime of contiguous sea zones is regulated under the International Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, adopted in Geneva in 1958,** and the national laws of the Coastal States.

The continuous zone is a belt of sea of a certain breadth, beyond the limits of the territorial sea and adjacent to it. The given belt of sea is part of the high

seas.

The breadth of contiguous zones is measured from the coastal limit of the territorial sea (from the high-water line, from the outer limit of the inland sea waters or another baseline of the territorial sea). Some States measure the breadth of the contiguous zones from the outer limit of the territorial sea. In practice, the contiguous zones are frequently called special sea zones.

The rights of coastal States in special sea zones provide for the defense and control of customs, fishing, fiscal, radiotelegraphic, defense and other interestsfor example, neutrality, criminal and civil jurisdiction. In security zones, provision is made for the protection of defense interests. Foreign warships and merchant vessels in special zones of coastal States enjoy the right of passage in accordance with the principle of freedom of the high seas.

*For more details concerning the drawing up of papers on collision and rendering assistance at sea, see Pravovyye voprosy avariy i spasaniya na more (Legal Questions Involved in Accidents and Rescue at Sea), Moscow, Military Publishing House, 1961. **For the text, see Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR (Gazette of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR), No. 43, 21 October 1964. See also the Table of Breadths of the Territorial Seas and Special (Contiguous) Zones.

SECTION 63. CONTINENTAL SHELF

The legal regime of the continental shelf is regulated under the International Convention on the Continental Shelf, adopted in Geneva in 1958,* and national laws of the coastal States.

According to the Convention, the "continental shelf" is understood to include the surface and subsoil of the seabed of underwater regions contiguous to the shore of the mainland and islands located beyond the territorial sea, to a depth of 200 m or to such points the depth of the overlaying water of which permits exploitation of the natural resources of these areas (Fig. 147).

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Fig. 147. Continental shelf, a) high seas; b) territorial sea; c) 200

m (and deeper); d) continental shelf; e) special sea zones.

The coastal States have the right to erect, maintain and operate facilities or other installations on the continental shelf, required in order to explore and develop its natural resources.

Other States may develop (explore) the continental shelf of a certain State only with the approval of that State.

States also have the right to establish security zones around these facilities and installations and to take measures in these zones for their protection. These security zones can extend for a distance of 500 m around the erected facilities and installations. Facilities erected on the shelf are under the jurisdiction of the coastal (or noncoastal) State, but do not have the status of islands and, consequently, their territorial waters.

Facilities and installations may not be erected in areas of the high seas where they could interfere with sea routes of significant importance to international navigation.

*For the text, see Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR (Gazette of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR), No. 28, July 1964.

SECTION 64. INTERNATIONAL STRAITS*

The legal regime of navigation through international straits is regulated under international conventions, individual agreements between States, and—in cases in which the straits overlap territorial waters-under the national laws of the Coastal States.

Black Sea Straits (Bosporus, Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles)

The 1936 Convention on the Black Sea Straits, adopted in Montreux (Switzerland), established the procedure for passage of warships and merchant vessels through the straits. Provision was made for delimitation of conditions for passage through the straits of warships of the Black Sea Powers and other States. Passage of the warships of the Black Sea Powers through the straits in peacetime is executed observing the following conditions: 1) only the Black Sea Powers may pass battleships of any tonnage,* ** these ships must pass through the straits singly, escorted by not more than two destroyers;

2) only the Black Sea Powers have the right to pass their submarines through the straits; they must proceed in daylight, singly, and surfaced;*

For passage of warships of the Black Sea Powers through the straits, notification must be sent to Turkey through diplomatic channels 8 days in advance. At the same time, it is recommended that other powers send such a notification 15 days in advance.

Warships of other powers may take courtesy calls at Black Sea ports in peacetime. However, other powers may not send their submarines into the Black Sea and into the straits zone, and the total tonnage of surface ships which can be sent into the Black Sea by all other powers may not exceed 45,000 tons at the present time.

For a single other State, a limit of 2/3 of the maximum 45,000 tons has been established. Warships of other States, regardless of the purpose of the call in the Black Sea, may remain there not more than 21 days.

Free passage through the straits in peacetime is enjoyed by light surface warships and auxiliary vessels of the navy, regardless of whether they belong to the Black Sea Powers or other States.

Auxiliary naval vessels fitted out exclusively for the transport of fuel (oil, etc.) enjoy full free passage through the Straits and may make passage without prior notification. However, such passage is possible if their armament does not

*See Mezhdunarodno-pravovoy rezhim vazhneyshikh prolivov i kanalov (International Legal Regime of the Most Vital Straits and Canals), Moscow, "Yuridicheskaya literatura" Publishing House, 1965.

**Battleships include ships with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons, as well as those with guns larger than 203 mm, or ships with a displacement of not more than 8000 tons, with guns larger than 203 mm.

***Passage is permitted in two cases: a) if the submarine were built (bought) in other basins and sent to a base in the Black Sea; b) in the event submarines need repairs at shipyards beyond the Black Sea.

exceed two guns of maximum 105-mm calibre and two 75-mm antiaircraft guns. Pilotage is not mandatory in the straits, but a pilot can be summoned if needed.

Warships approaching the Bosporus or Dardanelles must, at a distance of 50 nautical miles, communicate by radio to the Turkish Government signal station of the appropriate strait the composition of the detachment, the name and call signs of the ships (ship), and the proposed time of entry into the strait. This communication is repeated visually in the immediate vicinity of entrances (Bosporus, Dardanelles).*

In the Bosporus and Dardanelles narrows (from Cape Nara to the Kepez lighted buoy) warships and merchant vessels must proceed at a speed of less than 10 knots. The speed must be reduced to a minimum in the Bosporus between Bukder and Umurjeri Bays and between Cape Akhyrkapy and Haidar Pasha Harbor, and in the Dardanelles between the city of Gelibolu (Gallipoli) and Cape Cardak, and between Capes Mekhmetchik and Kum Kale.

Warships and merchant vessels passing southward through the Bosporus in the areas between Kirech lighted buoy and the buoy in the Umurjeri banks and between the Orts-Koi Mosque and the Kyzkulesi lighted buoy must hug the Asian coast, while those proceeding northward must hug the European coast, i.e., they must proceed to the left of the center of the strait. Allowance must be made for the constant southerly current of up to 2 knots (as much as 4 knots in fresh weather) in the Bosporus.

Saluting batteries are positioned at all entrances to the straits, as well as at Haidar Pasha (destroyers and auxiliary vessels may not exchange salutes with these batteries). By agreement, warships may exchange salutes only with the battery at Haidar Pasha.

Baltic Straits (Great Belt, Little Belt and The Sound). The regime of navigation is defined in the Treaty of Copenhagen of 1857 and under the national laws of Denmark and Sweden.

Passage of warships through The Sound and the Great Belt (Danish straits) is free if the number of surface warships or submarines does not exceed three units and the time of passage does not exceed two days. Submarines must proceed surfaced, with the flag hoisted.

Passage of warships through the Little Belt and the Copenhagen Roadstead (through Hollaenderdyb and Drogden) in all circumstances requires notification to Denmark 8 days in advance.

If a detachment of warships of one State consists of more than three units, or if the warships (warship) are to remain in the straits for more than four days, then advance notification must be sent to Danish authorities through diplomatic channels.

*The visual call signs of both stations are: “Kh-1” (“H-1"); the radio call signals of the Bosporus (Anadolf) station are "TBTs-1" ("TBC-1"); the call frequency is 500 kc; operating frequency by agreement; the radio call signals of the Dardanelles (Seddil-Bahr) station are "TBG-1" ("TBG-1"); the call frequency is 500 kc, and the operating frequency by agreement.

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