500.A15A/142: Telegram
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Bingham) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 12—11:25 a.m.]
403. From Davis. Piétri came to see me yesterday evening to tell me of his talks with the British Admiralty.
[Page 293]He explained that aside from Germany, France’s primary concern at present lay in maintaining in fact their present relative naval superiority over Italy which conforms with their respective needs and said that their position in this respect was somewhat analogous to that of the United States vis-à-vis Japan. France was disturbed by the projected Italian 35,000-ton capital ships, the reasons for the size of which it was unable to comprehend. Piétri felt that if it were possible for the United States, France and Japan to agree upon limitation of unit tonnage somewhere between this figure and the proposed British reduction to 25,000 tons, a great step forward would have been achieved in making possible French adherence to any future convention which he was most anxious to achieve. Following my explanation of the American position, he said that he fully understood that it would be impossible for us to agree upon any substantial reduction in the unit tonnage but that even a minor reduction would have a good effect and aid in a solution.
In so far as agreement with the British at the present time was concerned, Piétri explained that France and England were nearer an accord on the submarine question than ever before due primarily to the fact that France had been able to reconstitute and round out its fleet in part thus making it less dependent upon this particular weapon. While France could not accept the total abolition of submarines it was prepared to agree to some restrictions upon their construction and to reduce the size of future units. He agreed that it might be possible in time gradually to limit construction so as substantially to reduce numbers.
While he explained that there had been no detailed discussion of future building programs he felt that France and England were approaching accord on the principle of limitation by categories as established by part III of the London Treaty, with the reservation that they must further study the British proposal to restrict future construction of cruisers of category A, since France requires cruisers with adequate armament and protection to answer the prospective menace of the Deutschland class.
He also explained that while France was not unalterably opposed to a modification in the restrictions imposed upon Germany he felt there were certain objections to envisaging modifications at the present time or to bringing Germany into naval discussions, since this would result in other naval powers immediately putting forward their own claims for consideration and would render infinitely more difficult the present preliminary conversations. He stated that should the German status be modified the Russians would immediately put forward a claim for parity.
He agreed that the 1935 conference should be limited to the five powers, but thought that this might be considered as a preliminary conference [Page 294] and if successful to be followed by a more general meeting that would include smaller naval powers.
Craigie who came to see me yesterday gave substantially the same account of these talks. He also told me that the British Government had requested Italy to hold up the proposed battleship plans but had received no encouragement. [Davis.]