The ship shudders from the hits inflicted by the missile. The lights and gravity go out seconds before the drive cuts out and you are thrown to the deck by three G's suddenly applied. As the emergency lights come up a computer generated voice begins to calmly intone "...Alert, Alert, Alert. Explosive decompression in compartments 0-4-0-7, 1-4-1-8, 1-3-7-11, 1-2-7-9. Damage control teams to compartment 2-3-7-31. Non essential personnel report to your muster station"         The recruits look a little panicky. You know they have reason to be with the bridge and main power taken out by the hit.

    Finding your way around a free trader is not hard, a frigate is not much harder. But if you were to find yourself on one of the navies dreadnoughts or carriers you might wander for days before finding your destination if not for a standard nomenclature for compartment numbering. The system is actually based on the nomenclature for hatches and doors. The compartment is numbered after the entrance closest to the bow, then centerline, then highest deck if necessary. The system is used by Imperial civilian vessels as well.
    The system consists of up to four groups of numbers:
    The first number is a 0, 1 or 2 for centerline, starboard or port if the ships decks are laid out parallel to the direction of thrust, or a 3 digit number corresponding to the radial for ships laid out radially.
    The second number is the deck.
    The third number is the distance from the vessels centerline.
    The fourth is used if the ships decks are laid out parallel to the direction of thrust, and indicates the frameline. Frames are generally 1.5m apart.

Forex:
    The compartments on the Raptor class Frigate in the above scenario are the bridge, the upper airlock corridor, Main power and the port missile deck respectively.
    On a Knight class Frigate the bridge is 060-7-5, Main power is 250-4-1, the missile bay is 121-7-4.