500.A15A3/1859: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Bingham) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 24—8:30 a.m.]
624. Supplementing statement of First Lord in Parliament on December 17 (see my 618, December 16, 8 p.m.) I received a Foreign Office note yesterday44 which states the British Government consider the requirements of national security necessitates the retention of five “C” cruisers. “The retention of these vessels will cause the tonnage for the cruiser category permitted under the London Naval Treaty, 1930 (339,000 tons), to be exceeded by 20,270 tons, and His Majesty’s Government accordingly propose to have recourse to article 21 of that treaty in order to keep this excess tonnage” and concludes “I have the honor to add that His Majesty’s Government undertake that (a) vessels shall be retained for a maximum of 5 years’ peace service, and (b) they will be used not as cruisers but as antiaircraft ships, which will involve the substitution of a lighter armament for the existing 6-inch gun armament.”
- The copy of the British note transmitted to the Department by the Ambassador in his despatch No. 2731, December 23 (not printed) was dated December 22.↩