§ 8241. Navy ration: persons entitled to

• (a) Each enlisted member of the naval service is entitled to a Navy ration for each day that he is on active duty, including each day that he is on leave.
• (b) Each midshipman is entitled to a Navy ration for each day that he is on active duty, including each day that he is on leave.
• (c) The Secretary of the Navy may prescribe regulations stating the conditions under which the ration shall be allowed under subsection (b).

§ 8242. Rations

• (a) The President may prescribe the components and quantities of the Navy ration. The President may direct the issuance of equivalent articles in place of the prescribed components of the ration if the President determines that economy and the health and comfort of the members of the naval service require such action.
• (b) An enlisted member of the naval service on active duty is entitled to one ration daily. If an emergency ration is issued, it is in addition to the regular ration.
• (c) Fresh or preserved fruits, milk, butter, and eggs necessary for the proper diet of the sick and injured in hospitals shall be provided under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy.
• (d) The Secretary of the Navy may increase the quantity of daily rations for members of the naval service on a vessel or at a station that has an authorized complement of less than 150 members if the President determines that the vessel or station is operating under conditions that warrant an increase in rations.

§ 8243. Fixing cost on certain vessels and stations

If the Secretary of the Navy considers that it is undesirable to administer the mess on any ship or at any station under the quantity allowance prescribed in section 8242 of this title , he may fix the cost of each ration for that mess.

§ 8244. Enlisted members assigned to mess: basic allowance for subsistence paid to mess

Under such regulations as the Secretary of the Navy prescribes, the basic allowance for subsistence of enlisted members of the naval service assigned to duty with and subsisting in an officers’ or other mess, afloat or ashore, may be paid to the mess to which they are assigned.

§ 8245. Flight rations

An aircraft flight ration chargeable to the proper Navy or Marine Corps appropriation may be furnished to members of the naval service and to civilian employees of the Department of the Navy while engaged in flight operations. The flight ration is supplementary to any ration or subsistence allowance to which the members or employees are otherwise entitled. However, the flight ration may not be furnished without charge to any person in a travel status or to any person to whom a per diem allowance is granted in place of subsistence.

§ 8246. Subsistence in hospital messes: hospital ration

• (a) Enlisted members of the naval service on duty in hospitals and enlisted members of the naval service, including retired members and members of the Fleet Reserve and the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve, when sick in hospitals, may be subsisted in hospital messes. When subsistence is furnished under this subsection, the appropriation chargeable with the maintenance of the hospital mess shall be credited at the rate prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy as the value of the hospital ration.
• (b) Under such regulations as the Secretary prescribes, officers in the Nurse Corps may be subsisted in hospital messes. Each officer so subsisted shall pay for her subsistence at the rate fixed by the regulations.

§ 8247. Sale of meals by general messes

Under such regulations as the Secretary of the Navy prescribes, meals may be sold by general messes afloat and ashore.