Good point...maybe the higher courts will overturn this.
I researched this a bit when I first saw this and saw nothing on military flagged vessels being used as cargo...this could set another precedent.
I saw one case where a fellow had the bell from the Merrimac and the US government came and sued and took it for the Smithsonian sin compensa.
Strange laws I agree and especially now in the post Little Alvin age.
See 69. It is the privilege of governmets to guard the rests of their military vessels. And probably the United States of America are the most interested in law being so.