File No. 763.72111N83/45
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Norway ( Schoenfeld )
450. Your 1085, August 31, 5 p.m.2 Norwegian Minister presented note dated August 202 under the instructions of his Government reporting certain instances where foreign submarines have passed through or stopped within the territorial waters of Norway and requesting an investigation with a view to ascertaining whether any [Page 1786] American submarines have violated the provisions of the Royal decree of January 30, 1917.
A further note was addressed to the Department by the Minister dated August 291 presenting further instances where foreign submarines have been seen within the territorial waters of Norway and adding that the Norwegian Government “who learns with an ever increasing anxiety of each new case where the Royal Norwegian decree of January 30, 1917 is violated, and who cannot help feeling some impatience whilst awaiting the replies from the belligerent Governments to the previous note, thinks that it ought by these presents to advise these Governments that while it has already increased the inspection in the territorial waters concerned, it will deem itself compelled to take special military measures in these waters in order to maintain its rights.”
The Department is today replying to the Norwegian Minister, and requesting him to so advise his Government, that no submarine of the United States Navy has ever entered the territorial waters of Norway.
The foregoing is for your information and may be communicated informally to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, if you so desire, in anticipation of the Norwegian Minister’s communication to his Government.