The generalized approach to marine cathodic protection design, as applied to both petroleum production jackets and to pipelines, is reviewed; and it is demonstrated that the existing method in the case of pipelines can be interfaced with a newly proposed attenuation equation for evaluation of the range of applicability and calculation error. Accordingly, a modification to the existing protocol for galvanic cathodic protection system design is presented that quantitatively interrelates 1) design life, 2) anode size, weight, and properties, 3) pipe size, current demand, and coating quality, 4) sea water resistivity, 5) magnitude of polarization, and 6) anode spacing. An example cp system design is presented, and the utility of the method is discussed. Key Words: Marine pipelines, cathodic protection, design, sea water.