46 USC § 56301 - General authority

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t46/s56301"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_legal_evidence"
title: "46 USC § 56301 - General authority"
title_number: 46
title_name: "SHIPPING"
section_number: "56301"
section_name: "General authority"
chapter_number: 563
chapter_name: "EMERGENCY ACQUISITION OF VESSELS"
part_number: "E"
part_name: "Control of Merchant Marine Capabilities"
positive_law: true
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-03-26"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(c), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1654.)"
---


# § 56301. General authority

During a national emergency declared by Presidential proclamation, or a period for which the President has proclaimed that the security of the national defense makes it advisable, the Secretary of Transportation may requisition or purchase, or requisition or charter the use of, a vessel owned by citizens of the United States, a documented vessel, or a vessel under construction in the United States.

---

**Source Credit**: (Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(c), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1654.)

| RevisedSection | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 56301 | 46 App.:1242(a) (1st, 2d sentences). | June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title IX, § 902(a) (1st, 2d sentences), 49 Stat. 2015; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(131), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 165; Pub. L. 100–710, title I, § 104(c), Nov. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 4750. |

The words “or other watercraft” are omitted because of the definition of “vessel” in chapter 1 of the revised title. The words “The termination of any emergency so declared shall be announced by a further proclamation by the President” are omitted as superseded by the National Emergencies Act ( et seq.).