Tytuł i prawa państwa bandery do wraków okrętów wojennych i statków państwowych
The Legal Status of Sunken Warships and State Vessels in the Law of the Sea

Summary/Abstract: The thesis of this paper is that respect for perpetual title and rights of the flag state to wrecks of itsvessels is deeply embedded and broadly respected in international law. The Law of the Sea Convention (1982) and the High Seas Convention (1958) provide that warships, naval auxiliaries and other vessels owned and operated by a state and used only on governmental non-commercial service are defined as state vessels entitled to sovereign immunity. In accordance with international law which does not recognize extinctive prescription there are only three ways through which ownership of a warship or state vessel can be transferred: a) if – prior to sinking – a warship is captured or surrounded during battle; b) by international agreement; or c) by an express act of abandonment, gift or sale in accordance with principles of international law and the law of the flag state. Sunken warships are frequently war graves, and are likely to be dangerous because of oil, unexploded ordnance or hazardous or noxious material on board. Sometimes they carried valuable cargo. They were government property when they sank. Are they subject to salvage without the permission of the flag state? Without the permission of the coastal state? A coastal state does not acquire any right of ownership to a sunken state vessel or aircraft by reason of its being located on or embedded in land or the seabed over which it exercises sovereignty or jurisdiction. Access to such warships and vessels and their associated artefacts located on or embedded in the seabed of foreign archipelagic waters, territorial seas or contiguous zones, is subject to coastal state control in accordance with international law. It is the policy of most governments to honour requests from sovereign states to respect, or to authorize visits to, such sunken vessels and aircraft. Access to sunken state vessels and aircraft and their associated artefacts located or embedded in the continental shelf from 24 miles seaward of the baseline is subject to flag state control in cooperation with the coastal state. Such a position was taken in 2003 by many maritime states: Germany, Japan, the Russian Federation, Spain and the United Kingdom, in diplomatic notes addressed to the US Department of State. On October 28, President George W. Bush signed the fiscal year 2005 National Defense Authorization Act. Title XIV of the Act (Public Law Number 108–375), preserves the sovereign status of sunken US military vessels by codifying both their protected sovereign status and permanent US ownership regardless of the passage of time. The purpose of Title XIV is to protect sunken military vessels and aircraft and the remains of their crews from unauthorized disturbance. This statute provides for archaeological research permits and civil enforcement measures, including substantial fines, to prevent unauthorized disturbances. The author argues that for legal, economic and political reasons Poland should take an identical position

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