Good questions all. But not really relevant as to why the Navy is the preferred service for long-term space missions. I suspect something along the lines of what post 6 is suggesting for “Clementine”. Why did they call it “Clementine”?? Military nerds are like all nerds....they have “odd” senses of humor, and there is more to the name than is apparent on the surface.
Then again, if the Navy is the ‘preferred’ service for long term missions, why does the USAF run the X-37 long term missions?
The Clementine badge - there are a couple of youtube videos exploring the various design parts of the patch and possible meanings and oblique references. (One of them deals with a blurred out section of one image - interesting).