Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1941, The American Republics, Volume VII

810.20 Defense/1098

Memorandum by the Chief of Naval Operations (Spears) to the Liaison Officer (Wilson)

No. OP–12C–CMD

Washington, June 19, 1941.

1. The second draft of the Proposed Agreement with Ecuador has been received and examined by representatives of the Navy Department. There are no comments to offer regarding the text of the Proposed Agreement.¹⁸

2. It is the understanding of the Navy Department that further agreements will be made with Ecuador to specify the benefits to be received by the United States as a result of the transfer of the ships and the construction of a Naval Base on the mainland of Ecuador.

3. The Navy Department point of view is that these benefits should include the right to use ports, harbors, bases of Ecuador including the right to construct Naval and Air bases, if needed, in the Galápagos Islands.

W. O. Spears

18. This proposed agreement was not concluded because the United States Navy needed all patrol vessels for its own use. The two craft which were included in this proposal were, however, assigned for training Ecuadoran naval personnel in December 1942.