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Title 22 — Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73not60

§451 Submarines and Armed Merchant Vessels

Title 22 › Chapter 9— FOREIGN WARS, WAR MATERIALS, AND NEUTRALITY › Subchapter II— NEUTRALITY › § 451

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The President can bar foreign submarines and armed merchant ships from coming into or leaving U.S. ports or territorial waters during a war when the United States is neutral if the President finds those limits will keep peace, protect U.S. commercial interests, or improve security. The President sets any conditions or limits for entry or exit. When the President decides the reasons for the ban are gone, the ban ends, but people who broke the rules before the ban was lifted can still be punished.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §451

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Whenever, during any war in which the United States is neutral, the President shall find that special restrictions placed on the use of the ports and territorial waters of the United States by the submarines or armed merchant vessels of a foreign state will serve to maintain peace between the United States and foreign states, or to protect the commercial interests of the United States and its citizens, or to promote the security of the United States, and shall make proclamation thereof, it shall thereafter be unlawful for any such submarine or armed merchant vessel to enter a port or the territorial waters of the United States or to depart therefrom, except under such conditions and subject to such limitations as the President may prescribe. Whenever, in his judgment, the conditions which have caused him to issue his proclamation have ceased to exist, he shall revoke his proclamation and the provisions of this section shall thereupon cease to apply, except as to offenses committed prior to such revocation.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Executive Documents

Use of United States Ports and Territorial Waters by Submarines of Foreign NationsBy Proc. Nos. 2375, Nov. 4, 1939, 4 F.R. 4494, 54 Stat. 2672; 2400, Apr. 25, 1940, 5 F.R. 1570, 54 Stat. 2699; 2406,
May 11, 1940, 5 F.R. 1690, 54 Stat. 2705; 2409,
June 10, 1940, 5 F.R. 2192, 54 Stat. 2707; 2445, Nov. 15, 1940, 5 F.R. 4524, 54 Stat. 2672, submarines of France, Germany, Poland, United Kingdom, India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Union of South Africa, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Greece were denied use of United States ports and territorial waters.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 451

Title 22 — Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60