Military craft can be purchased by civilians in some cases, but they must be completely disarmed of all military technology and, in most cases, must remain completely out of operation and be for observation (museums, etc.) only.

Military ships and water craft come in various shapes and sizes. As a trivia fact, it may interest people to know that the world's largest navy belongs to the Transportation Corps of the US Army. The list includes landing craft, rubber inflatables, speed boats, tugboats, cargo ships, fireboats, coalers, as well as those we commonly think of as warships. Congress has passes laws about selling certain types of watercraft. For example, ships and boats with nuclear propulsion have to meet certain safety Regs when they are sold. Typically the reactors are removed. The remaining ship is little good for anything except a museum, breakwater, artifical reef, or scrap. Yet, some subs and/or surface ships could be retro fitted with conventional propulsion. In some of the older surface ships, hard mounts for diesel or coal-fired plants were part of the original specs. Fighting craft are a small part of the inventory of our nation's military water craft. The most common items sold are little boats such as john boats, cargo ships, tugs, and transport craft, and finally dredgers. Some of the old Forrestal Class destroyers have been sold to private purchasers in South America--one ship in particular was turned into a research vessel for deep water exploration. Also, if anyone remembers a video done by the Village people in the late 1980's on a US Navy Destroyer, that destroyer was sold to another country,and then resold to a buyer in the USA who converted it into a research vessel as well. Alot of the communities in the Great Lakes have bought dredgers from our military as well as military tugs. Back in the late 1980's there were auctions of small craft from Letterkenney Army depot in Penna where john boats and related equipment were put up for sale. So there is alot to buy for any individual if you're looking.