Each officer of the Regular Coast Guard serving in the grade of captain whose name is not carried on an approved list of officers selected for promotion to the grade of rear admiral (lower half) shall, unless retired under some other provision of law, be retired on June 30 of the promotion year in which he, or any captain junior to him on the active duty promotion list who has not lost numbers or precedence, completes thirty years of active commissioned service in the Coast Guard. An officer advanced in precedence on the active duty promotion list because of his promotion resulting from selection for promotion from below the zone, or from being placed at the top of the list of selectees promulgated by the Secretary under section 2121(a) of this title, is not subject to involuntary retirement under this section earlier than if he had not been selected from below the zone or placed at the top of the list of selectees, as applicable.

Retired pay computed under section 2504(a) of this title of an officer retired under this section shall not be less than 50 percent of the basic pay upon which the computation of his retired pay is based.

(Added Pub. L. 88–130, § 1(10)(C), Sept. 24, 1963, 77 Stat. 185, § 288; amended Pub. L. 93–283, § 1(8), May 14, 1974, 88 Stat. 140; Pub. L. 94–546, § 1(25), Oct. 18, 1976, 90 Stat. 2521; Pub. L. 96–342, title VIII, § 813(f)(1), Sept. 8, 1980, 94 Stat. 1109; Pub. L. 97–417, § 2(7), Jan. 4, 1983, 96 Stat. 2085; Pub. L. 99–348, title II, § 205(b)(4), July 1, 1986, 100 Stat. 700; Pub. L. 99–661, div. A, title XIII, § 1343(c), Nov. 14, 1986, 100 Stat. 3995; renumbered § 2149 and amended Pub. L. 115–282, title I, §§ 112(b), 123(b)(2), title III, § 309, Dec. 4, 2018, 132 Stat. 4216, 4240, 4248.)