# § 353. Radio equipment and operators
**(a)** **Two radio officers required** Each cargo ship which in accordance with this part is equipped with a radiotelegraph station and which is not equipped with a radiotelegraph auto alarm, and each passenger ship required by this part to be equipped with a radiotelegraph station, shall, for safety purposes, carry at least two radio officers.
**(b)** **One radio officer required** A cargo ship which in accordance with this part is equipped with a radiotelegraph station, which is equipped with a radiotelegraph auto alarm, shall, for safety purposes, carry at least one radio officer who shall have had at least six months’ previous service in the aggregate as a radio officer in a station on board a ship or ships of the United States.
**(c)** **Required watches** *Provided*
Each ship of the United States which in accordance with this part is equipped with a radiotelegraph station shall, while being navigated in the open sea outside of a harbor or port, keep a continuous watch by means of radio officers whenever the station is not being used for authorized traffic: , That, in lieu thereof, on a cargo ship equipped with a radiotelegraph auto alarm in proper operating condition, a watch of at least eight hours per day, in the aggregate, shall be maintained by means of a radio officer.
**(d)** **Hours of watch** The Commission shall, when it finds it necessary for safety purposes, have authority to prescribe the particular hours of watch on a ship of the United States which in accordance with this part is equipped with a radiotelegraph station.
**(e)** **Operational status of auto alarms in open sea** On all ships of the United States equipped with a radiotelegraph auto alarm, said apparatus shall be in operation at all times while the ship is being navigated in the open sea outside of a harbor or port when the radio officer is not on watch.
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**Source Credit**: (June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title III, § 353, as added May 20, 1937, ch. 229, § 10(b), 50 Stat. 193; amended July 8, 1941, ch. 278, 55 Stat. 579; June 22, 1943, ch. 137, 57 Stat. 161; July 25, 1947, ch. 327, § 2(a), 61 Stat. 451; Aug. 13, 1954, ch. 729, § 1(d), 68 Stat. 705; Pub. L. 89–121, § 4, Aug. 13, 1965, 79 Stat. 513.)
## Editorial Notes
### Amendments
1965—, among other changes, substituted wherever appearing “radiotelegraph station” for “radiotelegraph installation”, “radiotelegraph auto alarm” for “auto-alarm”, and “radio officer” and “radio officers” for “qualified operator” and “qualified operators”, required a continuous watch to be kept when the radiotelegraph station is not being used for authorized traffic, and inserted “while being navigated in the open sea” in two places.
1954—Act , amended section to make clear that it applies only to ships equipped with a radiotelegraph installation, not those fitted with a radiotelephone installation.
1943—Subsec. (b). Act , substituted “the termination of such emergency or such earlier date as Congress by concurrent resolution may designate” for “”.
1941—Subsec. (b). Act , inserted exception respecting national emergency.
## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
### Partial Repeal Effective July 1, 1948
Acts , and , which amended subsec. (b) of this section by adding the clause authorizing suspension or modification of the service requirement during the emergency, were repealed, effective , by act , which provided that such acts should remain in full force and effect until such date.
### Effective Date
Section effective , unless deferred by the Commission, see section 16 of act , set out as a note under .
### Approval of Operators by Secretary of Navy During War
, , as amended , ; , ; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, § 101, eff. , 11 F.R. 7875, , prohibiting employment of radio operators who were disapproved by the Secretary of the Navy during World War II, was repealed by , .