---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 8678"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "8678"
heading: "Chief of Naval Operations: certification required for disposal of combatant vessels"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/8678"
units:
  - "Subtitle C — Navy and Marine Corps"
  - "Part IV — General Administration"
  - "Chapter 863 — Naval Vessels"
---

# §8678. Chief of Naval Operations: certification required for disposal of combatant vessels


Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no combatant vessel of the [Navy](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-1) may be sold, transferred, or otherwise disposed of unless the Chief of Naval Operations certifies that it is not essential to the defense of the [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1).


## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 103–160, div. A, title VIII, § 824(b), Nov. 30, 1993, 107 Stat. 1710, § 7308; renumbered § 8678, Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 807(d)(2), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1836.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2018—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 7308 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.