Question 46 RVR02 - Master of LT 500-1600 GRT

The Correct Answer is A **Explanation for Option A (Correct):** This question refers specifically to the Inland Navigation Rules, and more precisely, Rule 3(a) (Definitions) and Rule 2(b) (Responsibility and Application). Rule 2(b) addresses situations where the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (acting through the Commandant of the Coast Guard) determines that a vessel cannot comply with the Rules concerning the construction or arrangement of navigation lights, shapes, or sound signaling appliances, particularly due to its special construction or purpose. In such cases, Rule 2(b) states that the vessel must comply with the requirements for lights, shapes, or sound-signaling appliances **as closely as possible**. This provision recognizes that certain vessels (often those owned or operated by the government or those with highly specialized construction) may have physical limitations preventing literal compliance with rules like the spacing requirements for masthead lights. **Explanation of Incorrect Options:** **B) The vessel must be altered to permit full compliance with the rules.** This is incorrect because the premise of the question is that the Secretary has already determined the vessel *cannot* comply (implying alteration is impractical, impossible, or would compromise the vessel's function). If alteration were always required, Rule 2(b) would be unnecessary. **C) An all-round light should be substituted for the after-masthead light and the stern light.** This is incorrect. While specific substitutions are allowed for certain small vessels or specific types of lights (like combining the stern light and after masthead light into a single all-round white light under Rule 23(d)(i) for vessels less than 12 meters), this is a rule for light configuration, not the general requirement for addressing spacing non-compliance as determined by the Secretary under Rule 2(b). Rule 2(b) requires closest possible compliance for *all* determined structural non-compliances. **D) The vessel must carry only the lights that comply with the rules; the others may be omitted.** This is incorrect. Omission of required lights would violate the fundamental requirement that vessels display specific lights for safety and identification. The requirement is not to omit lights but to display the full required suite of lights arranged as closely as possible to the regulatory standard.