711.00111 Armament Control/Military Secrets/1916
Memorandum by the Assistant Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Henderson)
During the course of a conversation which I had yesterday with Mr. Oumansky, he told me that he had received authorization to depart [Page 890] from the United States on the Queen Mary on July 5 for the Soviet Union, in order to take home leave. He said that he hoped, prior to his departure, to dispose of as many matters pending between the Embassy and the Department as possible. He referred particularly to the difficulties which the Soviet Government was encountering in its endeavors to arrange for the building of naval vessels in this country. He said that the situation looked very dark indeed. I expressed some surprise at this statement, stating that although I had not followed developments closely, I had obtained the impression that some headway had been made during the past few days. He said that, on the contrary, no progress had been made whatsoever; that the Navy Department had granted permission for the building of a number of ships; but the type of ships for which permission had been obtained was of a 1933 design, and was so outmoded that in his opinion the Soviet Government could not accept them.
I again told him that this was a matter which I was not prepared to discuss with him, since it was being handled for the most part by the Division of Controls in the Department.