Citadel

Hardened safe room aboard ship designed to protect crew during a piracy boarding while awaiting military intervention. The citadel includes hardened access doors, food and water for at least 72 hours, fixed communications independent of bridge systems, and ideally engineering control to disable propulsion. BMP5 recommends crew rehearse citadel access during drills and that the master have positive accountability of every crew member before activation. The citadel works only when boarders cannot breach it before military arrival; many successful naval rescues turn on whether crew reach the citadel intact.