740.000112 European War 1039/229
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 5—7:11 p.m.]
1945. Following from Naval Person.44
Regarding your telephone call: Iroquois is probably 1,000 miles west of Ireland. Presume you could not meet her before 50 meridian. There remains about 1,000 miles in which outrage might be committed. U-boat danger inconceivable in these broad waters. Only method can be time bombs planted Queenstown. We think this not impossible. I am convinced full exposure of all facts known to United States Government including sources of information, especially if official, only way of frustrating plot. Action seems urgent. Presume you have warned Iroquois to search ship.45
- Code designation for Winston Churchill, British First Lord of the Admiralty.↩
- A White House press release issued October 5, 1939, stated that a Coast Guard vessel and several Navy ships would meet the Iroquois at sea and accompany her to an American port and that the captain of the Iroquois had been asked to make a careful search for probable explosives on board his ship. See Department of State Bulletin, October 21, 1939, p. 407.↩