711.00111 Armament Control/Military Secrets/1902

The Ambassador of the Soviet Union (Umansky) to the Secretary of State

Memorandum of Oral Conversation

Upon instructions of his Government the Soviet Ambassador brought to the attention of the Secretary of State the following:

By a letter dated June 17th, 1938, the Secretary of State informed the Soviet Ambassador that the Government of the United States would not object to the purchase by the Soviet Government of plans for a battleship prepared by Mr. William Francis Gibbs, that there would be no objections to the construction in the United States of a battleship for the Soviet Government not exceeding the treaty limit of 45000 tons and that the Navy Department would cooperate in such construction with naval architects and shipbuilders to a degree consistent with the interests of the national defense of the United States.

On the basis of this letter and in view of suggestions received directly from Mr. Gibbs and relating to the designing of battleships and torpedo boat destroyers for the Soviet Government, a Soviet Naval Commission headed by Admiral Issakov, First Assistant People’s Commissar of the Navy, arrived last March in the United States, entered into negotiations with Mr. Gibbs’ firm and contacted the Navy Department.

Mr. Gibbs’ firm accomplished a substantial amount of work in designing the plans for the torpedo boat destroyers and was remunerated by the Soviet Naval Commission in accordance with an existing agreement.

To the surprise of both the Soviet Government and the designing firm, the Navy Department, through the Department of State, raised objections to the release to the Soviet Government of the plans of a modern torpedo boat destroyer, as prepared by Mr. Gibbs, as well as to the construction of such destroyers for the Soviet Government in the United States. The objections of the Navy Department concerned not only the armament for the destroyers but equally the boilers, the electrical installation and the machinery. In substitution for these plans the Navy Department was willing to authorize the designing of a non-modern type of destroyer, of which the designs date back to the year 1933,—a type which does not interest the Soviet Government. The authorization of even this non-modern type of destroyers was conditioned by substantial restrictions of the quality of their armament and by the non-inclusion of their electrical system, ordnance items of armament and of their fire control system.

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In view of this attitude of the proper authorities of the United States which do not appear to be willing to make available to the Soviet Government such up to date type of armament as is being produced by United States Navy Yards for modern torpedo boat destroyers, the Soviet Government is now inquiring whether the Government of the United States will be prepared to authorize the designing and the construction for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of modern torpedo boat destroyers, should there be no armament included in these designs and construction.