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Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§8628 Merchant vessels: supplies

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle C— - Navy and Marine Corps › Part PART IV— - GENERAL ADMINISTRATION › Chapter CHAPTER 861— - SECRETARY OF THE NAVY: MISCELLANEOUS POWERS AND DUTIES › § 8628

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Navy may sell fuel and other needed supplies to a merchant ship under rules he sets if (1) the ship cannot get those supplies where it is and (2) it cannot go to the nearest port to get them without risking the ship, the crew’s health or comfort, or the safety of its cargo. Sales must be at reasonable prices, paid promptly, and the money goes back into the same Navy budget account to be used for the same purposes unless another law says otherwise.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §8628

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of the Navy, under such regulations as he prescribes, may sell to a merchant ship such fuel and other supplies as may be required to meet its necessities if the ship is unable—
(1)to procure the supplies from other sources at its present location; and
(2)to proceed to the nearest port where they may be obtained without endangering the safety of the ship, the health and comfort of its personnel, or the safe condition of the property carried on it.
(b)Sales under this section shall be at such prices as the Secretary considers reasonable. Payment shall be made on a cash basis or on such other basis as will reasonably assure prompt payment. Amounts received from such a sale shall, unless otherwise directed by another provision of law, be credited to the current appropriation concerned and are available for the same purposes as that appropriation.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised sectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 722834 U.S.C. 555f.June 4, 1954, ch. 264, § 3, 68 Stat. 176.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2018—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 7228 of this title as this section.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2018 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Feb. 1, 2019, with provision for the coordination of

Amendments

and special rule for certain redesignations, see section 800 of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 8628

Title 10 — Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73