1. Unidirectional carbon-reinforced plastics with a high reinforcement factor fail in tension or bending through a scheme of bulk failure, i.e., with a gradual accumulation of fiber ruptures. 2. The level of bulk damage P depends on the specimen size; localization of bulk damage in the vicinity of specimen rupture is observed. 3. The strength of fibers of different lengths is satisfactorily approximated by a Weibull distribution, although a certain polymodality is observed in the curves for the strength distribution density. 4. The strength of the composite is determined by the P% quantile of the fiber strength distribution, extrapolated to the ineffective length; the coefficients of variation of the fibers and the composite are not functionally related. 5. The distribution of fiber segments in the failed carbon-reinforced plastic has a maximum at the ineffective length with a recovery coefficient equal to 0.96-0.98. © 1982 Plenum Publishing Corporation.