861.24/7–2147
The Secretary of the Navy (Forrestal) to the Secretary of State
Dear General Marshall: Your letter of June 20, 19471 states that the Soviet Government has requested that the United States transfer title to all merchant vessels, including four T–2 tankers, to the U.S.S.R. under authority of the Lend-Lease Act, provided that mutually satisfactory financial terms may be agreed upon.
It is realized that your letter does not ask for the concurrence of the Navy Department with the proposed sale. Nevertheless, I feel that I should be remiss if I did not bring to the attention of the State Department my views on this matter.
[Page 705]Negotiations are now underway between the Maritime Commission and several foreign governments and the nationals thereof concerning 100 additional T–2 tankers, the sale of which has been recently approved by the Navy Department. Excluded from the list of favored nations are the U.S.S.R. and the countries within its sphere of influence. I have therefore not approved the sale of any of this group of tankers to those excluded nations. To be consistent and in all sincerity I have to advise that my opinion remains the same with respect to the four Lend-Lease tankers now under consideration for sale to the U.S.S.R.
I am sure that you will appreciate that my reasons for this stand are based entirely on the requirements of the nation, its defense, the requirements of friendly nations, and the necessity for world-wide petroleum redistribution.
It is therefore strongly recommended that the four T–2 tankers be excluded from the group of merchant vessels under consideration for sale to the Soviet Government and that their return to this government be required.
Sincerely yours,
- Not printed.↩