500.A15 a 1/336
The British Ambassador (Howard) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 28.]
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I have been requested by Sir Austen Chamberlain to give you the following information as to the aims of His Majesty’s Government in bringing up at the Geneva Conference the question of reducing the size of capital ships and of their guns in case these aims are not fully appreciated over here.
I understand that at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Geneva Naval Conference on June 24th, Mr. Bridgeman, the First Lord of the Admiralty, in bringing up this matter explained that it [Page 62] was one to which the British Empire attached the greatest importance and that it would be impossible to avoid a public discussion on the subject in which arguments on both sides would no doubt be developed. The American and Japanese delegates then stated that this proposal had come as a surprise to them and that they must telegraph for the views of their respective Governments which it might take some days to get.
It is for this reason that His Majesty’s Government desire that it should be made clear to the United States Government why the question of reducing capital ships was included in the British proposals. The reasons were as follows:
- 1st.
- Desire to carry the principle embodied in Washington Treaty a stage further,
- 2nd.
- Desire to help the Preparatory Committee of the League of Nations to achieve better results than heretofore when it resumes its sittings in November by giving it the opportunity of following the example set by the three Naval Powers which should be reflected in the results registered by the Committee,
- 3rd.
- Desire to reduce the burden of expenditure which is one of the objects of the reduction of armaments, since it is in battleships that the greatest saving can be effected. In the view of His Majesty’s Government this proposal in no way contravenes the letter or the spirit of the Treaty of Washington but is on the contrary an effective furtherance of the spirit of that Treaty since the Five Powers, parties to the Treaty, only bound themselves not to build battleships above a certain size. If therefore before the expiry of that Treaty three of those Powers are willing to reduce the size of their capital ships below the treaty limit, there can not only be no violation of the letter of the Treaty but rather, as already remarked above, an effective furtherance of its spirit.
Sir Austen Chamberlain hopes that the competent authorities of the United States Government will, after these explanations, not misunderstand the spirit that has actuated His Majesty’s Government in putting forward these proposals, which seemed to them to be in accordance with the views of the President of the United States in inviting the signatories of the Washington Treaty to discuss the possibility of a further reduction of naval armaments in the spirit of that Treaty. He also hopes that the United States Government will not be under any misapprehension as to the sentiments of His Majesty’s Government in regard to this question if they are obliged to give similar explanations to the public in the event of discussions, which may take place later on this subject.
I should be very grateful if you would take an early opportunity of bringing the above to the knowledge of the President.
Yours very truly,