---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 8166"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "8166"
heading: "Precedence accorded commanding officers"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/8166"
units:
  - "Subtitle C — Navy and Marine Corps"
  - "Part II — Personnel"
  - "Chapter 821 — Officers in Command"
---

# §8166. Precedence accorded commanding officers


The commanding [officer](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-5) of a vessel or of a naval station takes precedence over all [officers](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-5) under his command.


## Source credit

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 372, § 5946; renumbered § 8166, Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 807(b)(5), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1834.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 5946 | 34 U.S.C. 246. | R.S. 1468. |

The word “placed” is omitted as surplusage. The words “of war” are omitted to avoid an erroneous implication that the section does not apply to the commanding officers of noncombatant ships of the Navy. As of the date of enactment of R.S. 1468, all vessels of the Navy were “vessels of war”; the elimination of the words, therefore, preserves the purpose of the statute.

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2018—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 5946 of this title as this section.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 2018 Amendment

Amendment 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.