---
type: "LegalText"
title: "47 U.S.C. § 353a"
description: "Operators and watches on radiotelephone equipped ships"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 47
title_name: "TELECOMMUNICATIONS"
chapter_number: "5"
chapter_name: "WIRE OR RADIO COMMUNICATION"
section: "353a"
citation: "47 U.S.C. § 353a"
status: "current"
release_point: "119-100"
release_date: "2026-06-26"
source: "official"
source_url: "https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc47@119-100.zip"
source_identifier: "/us/usc/t47/s353a"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-47/usc47.xml"
source_hash: "706304cb82ae0054814156b40e586b94bf66b939d4322254175e1586b19fc013"
raw_snapshot_hash: "7cfb2d22df305544d8fac4913876d34c6b712d99019bd01ec134ed44ef145534"
text_hash: "3007dc27d5b43ad0ed5a5049ac34874d7bf77e5cbdb2ca3be19e3402c9489264"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 47 U.S.C. § 353a - Operators and watches on radiotelephone equipped ships

## Text

(a) Each cargo ship which in accordance with this part is equipped with a radiotelephone station shall, for safety purposes, carry at least one operator who may be the master, an officer, or a member of the crew.

(b) Each cargo ship of the United States which in accordance with this part is equipped with a radiotelephone station shall, while being navigated in the open sea outside of a harbor or port, maintain continuous watch whenever the station is not being used for authorized traffic.

(June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title III, § 354, as added Aug. 13, 1954, ch. 729, § 2(b), 68 Stat. 706; amended Pub. L. 89–121, § 5, Aug. 13, 1965, 79 Stat. 514.)

## Notes

Editorial Notes

Amendments1965—Pub. L. 89–121 substituted “radiotelephone station” for “radiotelephone installation” in two places, and “one operator who may be the master, an officer, or a member of the crew” for “one qualified operator who may be a member of the crew holding only a certificate for radio telephony”, inserted “in the open sea” before “outside of a harbor”, and required a continuous watch whenever the station is not being used for authorized traffic.