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
33 U.S.C. 381: Use of public vessels to suppress piracyText contains those laws in effect through Public Law 119-120 (October 7, 2026).
From Title 33-NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERSCHAPTER 7-REGULATIONS FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF PIRACY

§381. Use of public vessels to suppress piracy

The President is authorized to employ so many of the public armed vessels as in his judgment the service may require, with suitable instructions to the commanders thereof, in protecting the merchant vessels of the United States and their crews from piratical aggressions and depredations.

(R.S. § 4293.)

Editorial Notes

Codification

R.S. § 4293 derived from acts Mar. 3, 1819, ch. 77, § 1, 3 Stat. 510; Jan. 30, 1823, ch. 7, 3 Stat. 721.