Cite as: 517 U. S. 654 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
the Suits in Admiralty Act service "forthwith" provision could coexist. Rule 4, as just recounted, originally contained no time prescription, only the direction that, "[u]pon the filing of the complaint the clerk shall forthwith issue a summons and deliver it for service," generally to a United States marshal. See supra, at 662. It was only in 1983, when plaintiffs were made responsible for service without the aid of the marshal, that the 120-day provision came into force, a provision that rendered Rule 4's time frame irreconcilable with § 742's service "forthwith" instruction.
Section 2 of the Suits in Admiralty Act, 46 U. S. C. App. § 742, captioned "Libel in personam," contains a broad waiver of sovereign immunity in its first sentence:
"In cases where if [a vessel owned or operated by the United States] were privately owned or operated . . . a proceeding in admiralty could be maintained, any appropriate nonjury proceeding in personam may be brought against the United States . . . ."
Section 3 of the Act, 46 U. S. C. App. § 743, although captioned "Procedure in cases of libel in personam," completes the immunity waiver by providing for costs and interest on money judgments against the United States.11 See United
States v. Bodcaw Co., 440 U. S. 202, 203-204, n. 3 (1979); Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 54(d)(1) (absent an authorizing statute, United States is not liable for costs); Library of Congress v. Shaw, 478 U. S. 310, 314 (1986) (absent an authorizing statute, United States is not liable for interest).
The United States asserts that not just the first sentence of § 742, but that section in its entirety is "jurisdictional," spelling out the terms and conditions of the Government's
11 Specifically, the second sentence of § 743 reads: "A decree against the United States . . . may include costs of suit, and when the decree is for a money judgment, interest at the rate of 4 per centum per annum until satisfied, or at any higher rate which shall be stipulated in any contract upon which such decree shall be based."
665
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