---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 56307"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "56307"
heading: "Return of vessels"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/56307"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Merchant Marine"
  - "Part E — Control of Merchant Marine Capabilities"
  - "Chapter 563 — Emergency Acquisition of Vessels"
---

# §56307. Return of vessels


When a [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) requisitioned for use but not ownership is returned to the owner, the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) of Transportation shall—

- (1) return the [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) in a condition at least as good as when taken, less ordinary wear and tear; or
- (2) pay the owner an amount sufficient to recondition the [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) to that condition, less ordinary wear and tear.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(c), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1656.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 56307 | 46 App.:1242(a) (4th sentence). | June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title IX, § 902(a) (4th sentence), 49 Stat. 2015; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(131), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 165. |

The words “requisitioned for use but not ownership” are substituted for “taken and used under authority of this section, but the ownership thereof is not required by the United States” to eliminate unnecessary words.