---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 8663"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "8663"
heading: "Number in service in time of peace"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/8663"
units:
  - "Subtitle C — Navy and Marine Corps"
  - "Part IV — General Administration"
  - "Chapter 863 — Naval Vessels"
---

# §8663. Number in service in time of peace


In time of peace, the President may keep in service such vessels of the [Navy](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-1) as are required and keep the rest in [reserve](/usc/10/101.md?p=c-6).


## Source credit

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 449, § 7293; renumbered § 8663, Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 807(d)(2), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1836.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 7293 | 34 U.S.C. 452. | R.S. 1534. |

The words “vessels of the Navy” are substituted for the words “of the public armed vessels”. The words “actual”, “in his opinion”, and “by the nature of the service” are omitted as surplusage. The words “in reserve” are substituted for the words “to be laid up in ordinary in convenient ports” to conform to modern terminology.

### Editorial Notes

### Prior Provisions

A prior section 8663, act Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 533, authorized Secretary of Air Force to parole or remit sentence and restore to duty offenders who are confined in the United States Disciplinary Barracks, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 90–377, § 6(3), July 5, 1968, 82 Stat. 288.

### Amendments

2018—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 7293 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.