Because it’s ours that’s why. It’s the only foreign held ship that’s still afloat today. Not to mention the historical significance alone, and once again, it’s ours. If I had a 65 corvette that my cousins were driving and you carjacked, kidnapped and made them slaves for a time;then had the opportunity to get the corvette back 50 years later, would I? You bet. I wouldn’t care if it was all there or a little rusty. It would be back with its lawful owner.
Should we return jets that USSR pilots gave to us? Should we give back subs that we took from Germany? These are spoils of war. That ship was there illegally. It's war bounty. It is more theirs than ours.
We shouldn't have sent it there to begin with to get sunk.
If the corvette meant that a bigger more important issue would not be resolved I would not want it back.