CHAPTER 15 SURVIVAL As  you  learned  in  earlier  chapters,  being  a professional Sailor is dangerous. These dangers aren’t limited to just your job in the Navy. In times of conflict, your ship or shore station may be in contact with an enemy force or ship. Regardless of your rate, rating, or duty station, you may need to stay alive in the water until you can reach land or be rescued. You must have the knowledge required to live in the field with limited equipment (survival) and to avoid the enemy (evasion). If captured, you also have the responsibility to flee from the enemy (escape) if possible. This chapter contains information on the principles and techniques of sea survival, evasion, land survival, and escape that have been used successfully worldwide. The information given here is by no means all-inclusive, but should serve to help you if the need arises. SURVIVAL AT SEA Learning Objectives: When you finish this chapter, you will be able to— Recall  the  methods  and  procedures  for abandoning ship. Identify the techniques for swimming through oil, flames, and debris. Recognize the techniques for using clothing and buoyant objects to stay afloat. Recognize the procedures used to care for and use personal floatation devices and the use of lifeboats and associated survival gear. Recall  the  characteristics  of,  use  of,  and adjustment  to  CO 2 inflatable  and  inherently buoyant life preservers. Identify the responsibilities and authority of the senior person in a survival situation. Survival  at  sea  depends  on  your  knowledge, self-control, training, and equipment. The time to learn as much as possible about survival and rescue at sea is before  you abandon ship, not after you find yourself in the water. The information for survival at sea is general in nature and applies to all Navy ratings. ABANDONING SHIP Having to abandon ship isn’t pleasant. Your “home” is  gone  along  with  most  of  your  possessions  and possibly some of your shipmates. You don’t know how long you must wait for rescue. However, with the proper knowledge  and  training,  frightening  aspects  can  be greatly reduced. Don’t panic and don’t give up hope. Remember,  the  Navy  knows  you’re  missing  and  is searching for you. Also, remember that thousands of persons have survived ships sinking in both wartime and peacetime. If time permits, the crew will abandon the ship in  a  planned  and  orderly  manner.  In  the  prepare- to-abandon-ship stage, all personnel go topside and muster at their abandon ship stations, don life jackets, and rig lines and ladders over the side. Bearing and distance to the nearest land, sea and wind conditions, and water temperature are passed over the 1MC (ship’s general  announcing  system).  When  the  order  to abandon  ship  is  given,  all  boats  are  lowered  and lifeboats are released. The crew members then go over the side and board them as quickly as possible. Know Escape Routes Many survivors have reported that their shipmates were lost because they were unable to get topside before the ship sank. In many of these cases, the compartments in which personnel were trapped were not cut off—the individuals only thought they were. Once on board a particular ship, most Sailors learn the easiest ways from their berthing compartments to their stations and automatically use these routes day after day. The habit of using the same hatches and ladders day after day becomes so strong that a person finds  it  difficult  to  use  other  routes.  This  habit  is 15-1 Without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious. —George Washington