Office of the Historian

861.24/6–2049

Memorandum by Mr. Carroll M. Meigs, Staff Assistant on the Lend-Lease and Surplus Property Staff in the Office of Financial and Development Policy1

undated
secret

General

Navy records contain signed receipts from USSR for 585 vessels. Of these 36 have been reported lost and 90 reported inoperable, leaving a balance of 459 operable vessels. The U.S. has demanded the return of 217 of these vessels including 3 icebreakers and 28 frigates considered of paramount importance to the U.S. To date 27 frigates and 1 icebreaker have been delivered, 2 icebreakers remained locked in the ice with damaged screws, 1 frigate is reported lost and 186 vessels remain on the demand list. The remainder of vessels reported in [Page 1330] operable condition, 242, have been considered as subject to negotiation for transfer (sale) to the USSR.

Details

On May 6, 1946,2 Secretary Forrestal requested the Department to obtain the return of the 3 icebreakers. On July 26, 19463 a note to the Soviet Embassy requested their return.

On April 30, 19474 lend-lease settlement negotiations were opened and the return of additional lend-lease vessels became one subject of discussion. The Navy on May 8, 19475 wrote the Department stating that 480 vessels would be required for U.S. needs, 102 could be disposed of as surplus and noted reports of the loss of 3 vessels (total 585). On June 11, 19476 the Navy curtailed its list of vessels to be returned and requested that 15 landing craft infantry, 101 torpedo boats and 70 submarine chasers (total 186) be returned in addition to the frigates and icebreakers and stated “It is understood that naval vessels in excess of the foregoing will be offered for sale to Russia”. This reduced requirement appears to have resulted from the settlement negotiations then going on.

However, ten meetings of the U.S.–USSR Combined Working Group held between May 3 and July 18, 19477 resulted in no progress being made toward the obtaining of the return of the vessels.

Negotiations were discontinued and a series of interchanges of notes took place. A U.S. note dated September 3, 19488 made the following detailed proposals: (a) Demanded immediate return of the icebreakers and frigates, (b) requested early return of 186 landing craft, torpedo boats and submarine chasers, (c) offered to negotiate for sale of the balance of 242 vessels conditional upon a prompt over-all deal and (d) requested return or destruction of the 90 inoperable vessels.

Shortly thereafter under date of October 11, 19489 the Navy further scaled down its requirements to include only the icebreakers and frigates and indicated no objection to the sale of the entire remainder to the USSR. This decision appears to have been influenced by reduced budget and personnel. However, on December 29, 19489 at the third meeting of the Subcommittee on Naval Ships the Navy reaffirmed its desire for the return of the 186 vessels as well as the frigates and icebreakers.

An extended exchange of notes on the subject of returning the icebreakers and frigates followed and finally resulted in meetings in [Page 1331] Washington with Soviet naval experts to arrange technical details for the return of these vessels. An agreement was signed on September 27, 1949 and at that time the Soviet Ambassador was requested to have the naval experts continue discussions for the return of the 186 other vessels required. Despite this the Soviet experts departed on October 27, 1949.

Under date of October 10, 194910 the Navy reviewed its previous statements of requirements and said that the Navy and the Secretary of Defense are now desirous of accomplishing the return of all lendlease naval vessels. This position was reaffirmed in a meeting of the Subcommittee on Naval Ships held December 14, 194911 and again, verbally, as recently as Monday, December 11, 1950.

The U.S. note of June 15, 1950 proposed the renewal of lend-lease settlement discussions, including the question of vessels, and the Soviet note of November 24, 1950 agreed to resume talks. The U.S. has suggested January 15 for the opening date.

C[arroll] M. M[eigs]
  1. This undated memorandum on naval vessels lend-leased to the Soviet Union was drafted on December 14, 1950, by Mr. Meigs as background notes for Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Willard L. Thorp, in preparation for a meeting with the Secretary of the Navy Francis P. Matthews on December 15 at 3:30 p. m.; see infra.↩
  2. Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. vi, p. 837.↩
  3. Ibid., p. 852.↩
  4. Ibid., 1947, vol. iv, p. 680.↩
  5. Ibid., p. 685.↩
  6. Ibid., 1947, vol. iv, p. 694.↩
  7. See the editorial note, ibid., p. 683.↩
  8. Ibid., 1948, vol. iv, p. 1004.↩
  9. Not printed.↩
  10. Not printed.↩
  11. Foreign Relations, 1949, vol. v, p. 746.↩
  12. Ibid., p. 752.↩