Well, knowing the USN, the reason is either a) some extremely long, convoluted line of reasoning formulated through several Senate subcommittee hearings to avoid pissing anyone off or b) someone wrote it that way once 75 years ago, and no one knows enough about why to want to change it.
![[OC] The USS Constitution, the oldest naval warship still afloat.](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/d5c9b27d-0ddf-45b3-a533-498edc45252a.jpeg){kind=link}
Well, knowing the USN, the reason is either a) some extremely long, convoluted line of reasoning formulated through several Senate subcommittee hearings to avoid pissing anyone off or b) someone wrote it that way once 75 years ago, and no one knows enough about why to want to change it.