federal preservation law (Other Keyword)

DOCUMENT Citation Only Robert Neyland. Alexis Catsambis.

The Sunken Military Craft Act (SMCA) was enacted on October 28, 2004. The SMCA preserves and protects from disturbance all sunken military craft owned by the U.S. government, as well as foreign sunken military craft submerged or buried in the seabed within U.S. territorial waters. The Navy's sunken ship and aircraft wrecks remain U.S. property regardless of their location in U.S, international, or foreign waters. Ownership is not changed by the passage of time. These wrecks may not be disturbed...