Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1936, General, British Commonwealth, Volume I

500.A15A3/1798: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Bingham) to the Secretary of State

London, July 15, 1936—7 p.m.
[Received July 15—2:35 p.m.]

348. An official note⁷ was handed to me this afternoon at the Foreign Office in which the British Government in the United Kingdom invoked article 21 of the London Naval Treaty of 1930 with a view to the retention of an additional 40,000 tons of overage destroyer tonnage over and above that specified in article 16, clause 1, as not to be exceeded on the 31st December, 1936. In conclusion the communication takes note of the statement in the American memorandum of June 11⁸ that in the event of the British Government invoking article 21 the United States Government would reserve the right deriving from this article to retain a proportionate amount of excess tonnage in the destroyer class. Copy by pouch tomorrow.

Bingham

7. Copy transmitted to the Department by the Ambassador in his despatch No. 2360, July 16; not printed.
8. Not printed; see telegram No. 191, supra.