The Secretary may control the anchorage and movement of any vessel in the navigable waters of the United States to ensure the safety or security of any vessel of the Armed Forces in those waters.

If the Secretary does not exercise the authority in subsection (a) of this section and immediate action is required, the senior officer present in command may control the anchorage or movement of any vessel in the navigable waters of the United States to ensure the safety and security of any vessel of the Armed Forces under the officer’s command.

If a person violates, or a vessel is operated in violation of, this section or a regulation or order issued under this section, the person or vessel is subject to the enforcement provisions in section 13 [1] of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act (33 U.S.C. 1232).

As used in this section “navigable waters of the United States” includes all waters of the territorial sea of the United States as described in Presidential Proclamation No. 5928 of December 27, 1988.

For purposes of this title, the term “vessel of the Armed Forces” means—

(1) any vessel owned or operated by the Department of Defense or the Coast Guard, other than a time- or voyage-chartered vessel; and

(2) any vessel owned and operated by the Department of Transportation that is designated by the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating as a vessel equivalent to a vessel described in paragraph (1).

(Aug. 4, 1949, ch. 393, 63 Stat. 503, § 91; Pub. L. 99–640, § 10(a)(4), Nov. 10, 1986, 100 Stat. 3549; Pub. L. 109–241, title II, § 201, July 11, 2006, 120 Stat. 519; renumbered § 527 and amended Pub. L. 115–282, title I, § 105(b), title III, § 318(a), Dec. 4, 2018, 132 Stat. 4200, 4251.)