Office of the Historian

794.5621/7–854

No. 776
The Australian Ambassador (Spender) to the Secretary of State

secret
undated

The Australian Ambassador presents his compliments to the Secretary of State and has the honour to refer to the proposal1 that a United States submarine should be transferred on loan to the Japanese Government for use in anti-submarine training of Japanese naval forces. The Ambassador desires to express the Australian Government’s appreciation of the Secretary’s action in informing them of this proposal.

The Australian Government would have preferred it if the United States submarine had been manned by United States personnel. At the same time the Government appreciates that, for defensive purposes, Japan needs numbers of anti-submarine craft, and that for the training of these craft it is necessary to have a target submarine. The Australian Government is therefore agreeable to the above proposal.

The Australian Government hopes however that publicity on this phase of Japanese defence preparations would be kept to a minimum. It should also be pointed out that the above decision does not imply that Australia would necessarily approve provision to the Japanese of submarines for combat purposes.

Washington, 8th July 1954.

  1. Documents in file 794.5621 for June 1954 indicate that on or about June 22 McClurkin informed representatives of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom that the United States was planning to initiate discussions with Japan concerning the loan of a training submarine to Japan for training purposes, that it would probably be 8 to 10 months before the vessel could be transferred, and that since it could be expected that the information might become public in advance, the Commonwealth powers might desire to prepare the ground so that public reaction could be minimized. In a briefing memorandum to McClurkin dated June 21, Finn stated: “We should make it plain that we intend to move ahead on the loan in any event. Only a major protest from the Australian Government should delay further consideration of this loan.” (794.5621/6–2154)↩