Office of the Historian

862.34/186: Telegram

The Ambassador in Germany (Dodd) to the Secretary of State

Berlin, July 12, 1935—5 p.m.
[Received July 12—2:20 p.m.]

135. My 132, July 5, 2 p.m.; and 134, July 8, 5 p.m.34 Pertinent portions for Navy Department.

Press in publishing German building program claims present fleet 127,000 out of about 420,000 tons permissible under basis for this agreement.35 Marine Department informed Assistant Naval Attaché of its intention to build up to 35 percent ratio as quickly as consistent with good designing; no more pocket battleships as these too small, together with other defects; 6,500 to 10,000 cruiser increases specially based on tonnage United States large cruisers; no destroyers actually in commission, first launched should be ready between New Year and March 1st; 20 small submarines purely for training, future construction [Page 78] larger but probably less than 1,000 tons. Von Ribbentrop36 expressed to me hope that United States may urge France to join naval concert. French Ambassador emphatic his Government will make no tonnage agreement and thinks there will be no naval conference.

Von Ribbentrop consistently avoided openings to discuss Japanese attitude; Marine Department stated that Nippon objects to Germany in naval conference on pretext that this would increase representation of white races as against yellow; French Ambassador believes in Japanese-German entente holding that if Japan attacks Soviets the latter will yield so as to reserve themselves for European conflict.

Von Ribbentrop convinced Mussolini will execute his Abyssinian program, French Ambassador positive that he will not.

The Franco-Soviet alliance37 was the target of recent Polish-German negotiations according to Von Ribbentrop and adding to this objective that of upsetting French plans in Eastern Europe.

Dodd
  1. Neither printed.↩
  2. For correspondence relating to the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, June 18, 1935, see pp. 162 ff.↩
  3. Joachim von Ribbentrop, personal ambassador of the German Fuehrer and head of the German delegation at the Anglo-German naval conversations in London.↩
  4. Mutual assistance pact between France and the Soviet Union, signed May 2, 1935, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. clxvii, p. 395.↩