---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 51101"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "51101"
heading: "Policy"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/51101"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Merchant Marine"
  - "Part B — Merchant Marine Service"
  - "Chapter 511 — General"
---

# §51101. Policy


It is the policy of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) that merchant marine [vessels](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) should be operated by highly trained and efficient citizens of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) and that the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) Navy and the merchant marine of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) should work closely together to promote the maximum integration of the total seapower forces of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10).


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(b), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1568.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 51101 | 46 App.:1126–1(a) (1st sentence). | Pub. L. 94–361, title VI, § 603(a) (1st sentence), July 14, 1976, 90 Stat. 929. |
|  | 46 App.:1295 (1st sentence). | June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title XIII, § 1301 (1st sentence), as added Pub. L. 96–453, § 2, Oct. 15, 1980, 94 Stat. 1997. |