(a) Limitation.—
The Secretary of the Navy may not decommission or inactivate a battle force ship before the end of the expected service life of the ship.
(b) Waiver.—The Secretary of the Navy may waive the limitation under subsection (a) with respect to a battle force ship if—
(1)
the Secretary submits to the congressional defense committees the certification described in subsection (c) with respect to such ship by not later than three days after the date on which the President submits the budget materials under section 1105(a) of title 31 for the fiscal year in which such waiver is sought; and
(c) Certification Described.—A certification described in this subsection is a certification that—
(1)
(E)
maintaining the ship is not required to support the most recent national defense strategy required by section 113(g) of this title; and
(d) Form.—
A certification submitted under subsection (b) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
(e) Definitions.—In this section:
(2)
The term “expected service life” means the number of years a naval vessel is expected to be in service.
(Added Pub. L. 117–81, div. A, title X, § 1014(a), Dec. 27, 2021, 135 Stat. 1894; amended Pub. L. 117–263, div. A, title X, § 1024(a), Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat. 2764.)