File No. 763.72/7538
The Japanese Ambassador on Special Mission ( Ishii ) to the Sectary of State
[Received October 31.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note under even date, advising me that the Honorable the Secretary of the Navy has informed you that an arrangement has been entered into between Vice Admiral Takeshita, of the Imperial Japanese Mission, and the Chief of Naval Operations, of the Department of the Navy, which contemplates the withdrawal of the U.S.S. Saratoga from the waters around the Hawaiian Islands and the substitution therefor of a cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy of equal fighting value and speed, and requesting me that I will bring the matter to the attention of my Government and will ask that such a ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy be detailed for the purpose indicated.
In reply, I have the honor to inform you in the name of the Japanese Government that they will at once take such steps as they [Page 698] deem proper in dispatching to the region a man-of-war of the Imperial Japanese Navy which is qualified for the purpose indicated in your note.
I take this opportunity [etc.]