---
kind: "section"
citation: "33 U.S.C. § 1605"
title: "33"
title_heading: "Navigation and Navigable Waters"
number: "1605"
heading: "Navy and Coast Guard vessels of special construction or purpose"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/33/1605"
units:
  - "Chapter 30 — International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea"
---

# §1605. Navy and Coast Guard vessels of special construction or purpose

- (a) **Certification for alternative compliance—** Any requirement of the International Regulations with respect to the number, position, range, or arc of visibility of lights, with respect to shapes, or with respect to the disposition and characteristics of sound-signaling appliances, shall not be applicable to a [vessel](/usc/33/1601.md?p=1) of special construction or purpose, whenever the [Secretary](/usc/33/426h–1.md?p=2) of the Navy, for any [vessel](/usc/33/1601.md?p=1) of the Navy, or the [Secretary](/usc/33/426h–1.md?p=2) of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, for any other [vessel](/usc/33/1601.md?p=1) of the United States, shall certify that the [vessel](/usc/33/1601.md?p=1) cannot comply fully with that requirement without interfering with the special function of the [vessel](/usc/33/1601.md?p=1).
- (b) **Closest possible compliance by vessels covered by certification for alternative compliance—** Whenever a certification is issued under the authority of [subsection (a)](#a) of this section, the [vessel](/usc/33/1601.md?p=1) involved shall comply with the requirement as to which the certification is made to the extent that the [Secretary](/usc/33/426h–1.md?p=2) issuing the certification shall certify as the closest possible compliance by that [vessel](/usc/33/1601.md?p=1).
- (c) **Publication of certifications in Federal Register—** Notice of the certifications issued pursuant to subsections [(a)](#a) and [(b)](#b) of this section shall be published in the Federal Register.
- (d) **Issuance of certification for a class of vessels—** A certification authorized by this section may be issued for a class of [vessels](/usc/33/1601.md?p=1).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 95–75, § 6, July 27, 1977, 91 Stat. 309; Pub. L. 96–591, § 6(2), Dec. 24, 1980, 94 Stat. 3434.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1980—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 96–591 added subsec. (d).

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Transfer of Functions

For transfer of authorities, functions, personnel, and assets of the Coast Guard, including the authorities and functions of the Secretary of Transportation relating thereto, to the Department of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related references, see sections 468(b), 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6, Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note under section 542 of Title 6.