Notice: The uscode.house.gov website is currently operating in a temporary format. While the United States Code remains available from its authoritative source, some website features and functionality are temporarily unavailable.
The United States Code Online is current through Public Law 119-120 (October 7, 2026).
Search & Browse Currency and Updating Classification Tables Popular Name Tool Positive Law Codification Editorial Reclassification Downloads
10 U.S.C. 8166: Precedence accorded commanding officersText contains those laws in effect through Public Law 119-120 (October 7, 2026).
From Title 10-ARMED FORCESCHAPTER 821-OFFICERS IN COMMAND
Jump To: Source CreditHistorical and Revision NotesEditorial NotesAmendmentsStatutory Notes and Related SubsidiariesEffective Date of Amendment

§8166. Precedence accorded commanding officers

The commanding officer of a vessel or of a naval station takes precedence over all officers under his command.

( Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041 , 70A Stat. 372 , § 5946; renumbered § 8166, Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 807(b)(5) , Aug. 13, 2018 , 132 Stat. 1834 .)

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised section

Source (U.S. Code)

Source (Statutes at Large)

5946

34 U.S.C. 246.

R.S. 1468.

The word “placed” is omitted as surplusage. The words “of war” are omitted to avoid an erroneous implication that the section does not apply to the commanding officers of noncombatant ships of the Navy. As of the date of enactment of R.S. 1468, all vessels of the Navy were “vessels of war”; the elimination of the words, therefore, preserves the purpose of the statute.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2018⁠—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 5946 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.