---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 11202"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "11202"
heading: "Qualified service"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/11202"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Vessels and Seamen"
  - "Part G — Merchant Seamen Protection and Relief"
  - "Chapter 112 — Merchant Mariner Benefits"
---

# §11202. Qualified service


For purposes of this chapter, an individual shall be considered to have engaged in qualified service if, between August 16, 1945, and December 31, 1946, the individual—

- (1) was a member of the United States merchant marine (including the Army Transport Service and the Naval Transport Service) serving as a crewmember of a vessel that was—
  - (A) operated by the War Shipping Administration or the Office of Defense Transportation (or an agent of the Administration or Office);
  - (B) operated in waters other than inland waters, the [Great Lakes](/usc/46/9301.md?p=2), and other lakes, bays, and harbors of the United States;
  - (C) under contract or charter to, or property of, the Government of the United States; and
  - (D) serving the Armed Forces; and
- (2) while so serving, was licensed or otherwise documented for service as a crewmember of such a vessel by an officer or employee of the United States authorized to [license](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-2) or document the individual for such service.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 105–368, title IV, § 402(a), Nov. 11, 1998, 112 Stat. 3336; amended Pub. L. 116–283, div. G, title LVXXXV [LXXXV], § 8505(b)(12), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 4752.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2021—Pub. L. 116–283 substituted “an individual” for “a person” in introductory provisions and “the individual” for “the person” in introductory provisions and in par. (2).