857.85/10–2142
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Long)
Mr. Douglas talked to me on the telephone today and asked if the Department of State approved the transfer to Norway of some vessels to be used by Norway during the war but not to be permanently assigned to Norway.
I told Mr. Douglas that we approved of the assignment to Norway of vessels and that I hoped he could tie it in with the replacement of vessels lost. After some conversation he said that they could use some phraseology to the effect that these vessels were not permanently transferred but were to be considered as replacement for the duration of the war.
I told Mr. Douglas that that would be quite agreeable and that we felt that something should be done to indicate that it was some measure of replacement because we had committed ourselves to replacement of tonnage lost in the service of the United Nations. I explained to Mr. Douglas that the Norwegian shipping losses were differentiated from other United Nations losses by reason of the fact that Norwegian ships constituted Norway’s principal national wealth and that they were in quite a different situation from most of the other nations. Mr. Douglas said that he would communicate with Mr. Lorentzen, the Norwegian shipping man. I told him that without objection I would call the Norwegian Embassy and advise them informally, which I have done.