861.24/9–649

The Acting Secretary of the Navy ( Koehler ) to the Deputy Under Secretary of State ( Rusk )

secret

My Dear Mr. Rusk: I refer to the Department of State’s letter of September 2, 1949, concerning the negotiations with the Soviet representatives on the return of three icebreakers and 27 frigates1 lend leased to the Soviet Government during the war.

The Department of the Navy regrets that the wording of Article V of the Soviet Master Lend-lease Agreement is such as to permit disagreement with respect to its meaning in that it does not specify return of loaned vessels “to U.S. ports.” The Department appreciates that because of this weakness of the agreement and the present location of the craft concerned, the Soviet Government is in such a favorable negotiating position that their moral obligation may not swerve them from their stand.

Therefore, because of the importance of removing U.S. naval vessels from Soviet custody the Department of the Navy agrees that undesirable concessions with respect to ports of delivery must be made and will, if unavoidable, accept delivery of the three icebreakers in a West German port and the 27 frigates in a southern Japanese port, which ports will be specified by the U.S. Navy.

Sincerely yours,

John T. Koehler
  1. In a memorandum of September 30, Admiral Pitersky explained that one frigate had been lost on the rocks near Petropavlovsk on November 17, 1948, and some others had been damaged.