•I
Armed Merchantment
1421/ 9
759
BRITISH EMBASSY,
WASHINGTON D.C. ,
November 3rd, 1939*
No. 1880.
My Lord,
Your Lordship w i l l recollect that In
accordance with the instructions contained in your
telegram No. 418 of August 86th, S i r Ronald Lindsay
informed the State Department u n o f f i c i a l l y on that
day that Hie Majesty's Government had decided to
begin the defensive arming of certain B r i t i s h merchant
vessels.
As reported i n my predecessor's telegram No*
579 of August 27th, the matter was referred to the
President and the State Department subsequently informed
the Embassy privately that no d i f f i c u l t i e s were l i k e l y
to be experienced by B r i t i s h merchant ships carrying
such armament entering United States ports*
So
have
Since that time many British merchant ships
arrived In t h i s country from Europe earring one
or two guns and in certain cases one or two a n t i - a i r c r a f t
guns as w e l l , and as f a r as I am aware no d i f f i c u l t i e s
have been experienced.
The press as was to be
expected at f i r s t commented on the arming of these
ships and published photographs of their guns but there
was l i t t l e or no tendency on the part of the papers t o
c r i t i c i s e the decision of His Majesty's Government to
arm these vessels*
S«
In the early days of the war some of the
British shipping agents in Hew York were nervous l e s t
The Right Honourable
I
VALM:FRHM:NT
The Viscount Halifax, K. O .,
etc.,
etc.,
etc.
ships/
3
s h i p s arm ed w i t h a n t i - a i r c r a f t guns m ight experience
som e d i f f i c u l t i e s and i t was suggested t h a t som e s t e p s
should he taken t o o b t a i n a d e f i n i t e statem ent from
the Am erican a u t h o r i t i e s regarding t h e i r a t t i t u d e I n
the m atter.
I thought i t unnecessary however t o take
such a o t i o n i n view of the assurances already g i v e n
by the State Departm ent and f e l t t h a t i t would he
m wi^te t o endeavour t o p i n them down t o any d e f i n i t e
o f f i c i a l statem ent o f p o l i c y on the question*
X
t h e r e f o r e decided not t o approach the S t a t e Departm ent
again and a s i n d i c a t e d above no d i f f i c u l t i e s have
a s y e t a r i s e n i n connexion w i t h the e n t r y o f such
d e f e n a l v e l y arm ed m erchant m en i n t o Am erican porta*
Furtherm ore as reported i n m y telegram No* 640 o f
October 19th, the President when i s s u i n g h i s proclam a­
t i o n under s e c t i o n 8 of the N e u t r a l i t y Act p r o h i b i t i n g
submarines of b e l l i g e r e n t s from u s i n g United S t a t e s
p o r t s , r e f r a i n e d from e x e r c i s i n g h i s power s i m i l a r l y
t o exclude armed merchant v e s s e l s *
I1j was Indeed
proposed during the debate on the r e v i s e d N e u t r a l i t y
B i l l i n the Senate t h a t a p r o v i s i o n be i n s e r t e d
i n s i s t i n g on armed merchant men v i s i t i n g United S t a t e s
p o r t s b e i n g t r e a t e d as i f they were w a r s h i p s .
T his
amendment was however defeated on October 27th by 65
v o t e s t o 86*
4*
On the other hand, you w i l l have n o t i c e d
from my despatch No* 1189 o f October 6 t h t h a t paragraph
( j ) o f the F i f t h Recommendation (General D e c l a r a t i o n o f
N e u t r a l i t y o f the American R e p u b l i c s ) of the Panama
Conference runs a s f o l l o w s ! •
"(J)
S h a l l not a s s i m i l a t e t o warships
belligerent/
i
"belligerent armed merchant vessels i f they do not
carry sore than four six-inch guns mounted on the stern,
and their l a t e r a l decks are not reinforced, and i f ,
i n the Judgement of the l o c a l authorities, there do
not e x i s t other circumstancee which reveal that the
merchant vessels ean b e used f o r offensive purposes*
They Bay require of the said vessels, i n order to enter
t h e i r ports, to deposit explosives and munitions
i n such places as the l o c a l authorities may determine.*
5*
In h i s conversation with me on Octob er 18th
Mr* Welles told me that as he interpreted t h i s
resolution a n t i - a i r c r a f t guns mounted on merchant ships
would b e treated as defensive armament — see my telegram
Bo* 636 of Octob er 18th•
The Under secretary of
State also however explained, contrary to my expectation*
that the resolutions of the Panama Conference were to
b e regarded not as made *ad referendum1* b at as b eing
operative * i n so f a r as their text implied it**.
6*
In view of Mr* Welles 1 remarks I thought i t
advisab le to enquire u n o f f i c i a l l y of the state Department
as to their intentions i n the matter.
7.
The Counsellor of His
. Ua)festy's Emb assy
therefore saw Mr* Moffat, the head of the European
Division, on Octob er 84th and enquired whether i n view
of the Panama resolution any change i n the attitude
of the State Department i n the natter of armed merchant
men was to b e expected*
In particular Ur« Mallet asked
whether i f the United states authorities deoided t o
act on the Panama resolution they would
interpret t h i s
as allowing merchant vessels to carry a n t i - a i r c r a f t
guns i n addition to the 4 6-inch guns, and as permitting
the decks of the ships to b e strengthened s u f f i c i e n t l y
to/
5
-4to enable to carry the four guns and whether one or
more of the four guns permitted eould be mounted on the
bows or whether they oust a l l be i n the stern*
Mr*
Mallet pointed out that i t would only be f a i r that we
should be informed beforehand i f obj ection was about t o
be taken by the United States authorities to what had
indeed seeinedto be becoming our current practice i n
the case of certain ships*
So
Ur* Moffat promised to look into the matter*
He has now sent an oral message that unless Congress at
any time took some action in the matter - which seems
very unlikely at the present moment - he did not
anticipate any executive action at any rate yet awhile*
He could naturally not make any promises but he f e l t
at least able to undertake that i f he heard that any
action was contemplated he would t r y to l e t the Embassy
have f a i r warning so as to avoid any embarrassment
i n respect of ships already at sea*
I have the honour t o be,
with the highest respect*
My Lord,
Your Lordship*s most obedient,
humble servant*
(SGD) LOTHIAN