832.34/215
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (White)
I telephoned the Brazilian Ambassador this morning and told him, with reference to his inquiry of the Secretary yesterday whether we would sell the Brazilian Government at once two ships of 8400 tons each, capable of making 32 knots, the payments to be made in twelve equal annual installments, that Article 18 of the Washington Naval Treaty provides that “each of the Contracting Powers undertakes not to dispose by gift, sale or any mode of transfer of any vessel of war in such a manner that such vessel may become a vessel of war in the Navy of any foreign Power”. I told him that unfortunately that would make it impossible for us to make the sale which he requested. The Ambassador then said that he understood that the treaty inhibition applied to vessels of 10,000 tons, whereas his Government was asking for ships under 10,000 tons. I pointed out to [Page 885] him that the Article in the Treaty I had just read mentioned “any vessel” and did not specify that they should be above or under 10,000 tons. I told him that in view of this it would not be possible for us to meet his Government’s request. The Ambassador thanked me for the information I had given him.
The Ambassador came in in the afternoon, after the receipt of telegram No. 97 of December 1, 11 a.m., from the Embassy in Rio, and I pointed out to him that in addition to the above, Article 11 of the London Naval Treaty provides that the rules for disposal contained in Annex II and Part II of the said Treaty shall be applied to all vessels of war to be disposed of. I read him the provisions regarding the removal of armaments, mutilation of boilers, et cetera, set forth in Section 5 of Annex II of the Naval Treaty, regarding vessels retained for training purposes. I pointed out, furthermore, that while under these conditions, which would make the boat valueless from the point of view of Brazil, as the vessel could not then make more than 18 knots an hour and Brazil wants one capable of a speed of 32 knots an hour, this provision of the Treaty does not even under those circumstances permit the vessel to be disposed of but merely to be retained, so that even if rendered more or less useless in this way, we still could not sell the vessels to the Brazilian Government.