I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9983 

To establish a grant program to support the conservation and preservation 

of historic military ships and submarines, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 11, 2024 

Mr. NORCROSS (for himself, Mr. BACON, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. CASE, 

Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. KENNEDY, Mrs. KIGGANS of Virginia, Mr. KILDEE, 

Ms. LEE of California, and Mr. PANETTA) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program to support the conservation 

and preservation of historic military ships and submarines, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Save Our Ships Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. HISTORIC NAVAL SHIP PRESERVATION GRANT PRO6 GRAM. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

8 Department of the Interior the Historic Naval Ship Pres9 ervation Grant Program to support the physical preservaVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:31 Oct 24, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9983.IH H9983

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1 tion of historic military vessels, ensuring the continued 

2 availability of these vessels to the American public to edu3 cate on the past and inspire the future of United States 

4 military maritime endeavors. 

5 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—The Program shall be admin6 istered by the Secretary, in consultation with the Depart7 ment of Homeland Security and the Department of De8 fense. 

9 (c) GRANT USES.—In carrying out the Program, the 

10 Secretary may award grants, on a competitive basis, to 

11 eligible entities for the following activities: 

12 (1) Conserving and preserving historic military 

13 vessels at covered sites, including— 

14 (A) physical upkeep and repair of the ves15 sels; and 

16 (B) mitigating environmental hazards or 

17 damage to the vessels. 

18 (2) Implementing education and workforce de19 velopment programs related to military maritime ca20 reers, including shipbuilding and submarine con21 struction. 

22 (d) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the Pro24 gram, the Secretary may award grants to a unit of 


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1 State or local government or a private nonprofit or2 ganization that administers a covered site. 

3 (2) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant 

4 under the Program, an organization that admin5 isters a covered site shall submit to the Secretary an 

6 application at such time, in such manner, and con7 taining such information as the Secretary may re8 quire. 

9 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

10 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

11 out the Program $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2025 and each 

12 fiscal year thereafter. 

13 (f) DEFINITION.—In this Act: 

14 (1) COVERED SITE.—The term ‘‘covered site’’ 

15 means a museum, memorial, monument, educational 

16 center, or other venue that provides public access to, 

17 or publicly displays, a historic military vessel. 

18 (2) HISTORIC MILITARY VESSEL.—The term 

19 ‘‘historic military vessel’’ means a vessel that has 

20 been decommissioned or otherwise removed from 

21 service and— 

22 (A) was owned and operated by the De23 partment of Defense or the Coast Guard, other 

24 than a time- or voyage-chartered vessel; 


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1 (B) was owned and operated by the De2 partment of Transportation and designated by 

3 the Secretary of the department in which the 

4 Coast Guard is operating as a vessel equivalent 

5 to a vessel described in subparagraph (A); or 

6 (C) was built for, or pursuant to a contract 

7 with, the United States Maritime Commission 

8 or other legacy branch of the Department of 

9 Transportation and at some point in the ves10 sel’s service was equipped with armaments and 

11 embarked Navy Armed Guard personnel to op12 erate the armaments. 

13 (3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means 

14 the Historic Naval Ship Preservation Grant Pro15 gram established by subsection (a). 

16 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

17 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di18 rector of the National Park Service. 

Æ 


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