857.85/11–1942
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Long)
The Norwegian Ambassador having just recently returned from London came in this afternoon at his request. He said that he had seen the President on yesterday and that he had, amongst other things, taken up the subject of ships which had been agreed should be delivered to Norway in compensation for tonnage lost in the Allied service. He reminded me that he had had conversations with the President in April and again in August on both of which occasions he said the President had stated his particular interest in the execution of that agreement. On yesterday he said the President again affirmed his interest in having action taken to implement the agreement.
The Ambassador stated that he appreciated the advices the Department had given to him through his Embassy while he was in London in regard to five ships which were made available to Norway, but stated that he was seriously disappointed that the ships were of the character they developed to be and that they were not ships in fulfillment of the agreement. He continued that Norwegian sailors were still “on the beach” here and were anxious and ready to sail in the Allied cause, and the Norwegian Government had particularly instructed him on his departure from London that he was to press this matter and to seek some speedy implementation from the United States.
The Ambassador Asked how this might be furthered.
I told the Ambassador I would make a memorandum of his report of his conversation with the President and that it would serve as the basis for taking it up with the competent authorities of the Government. I stated that I would advise him if there were any developments in the near future, and that if he had not heard from the Department we would be glad to discuss the matter with him at further length.
I told the Ambassador that it was how apparent since the expedition had arrived in North Africa that in the last few months we could not have allocated vessels for other service because every ton of shipping was needed for military purposes. I also called attention to the long line to the southwest Pacific and the need for a great deal of tonnage on that route, and I assured him that these circumstances prevented the American Government from making commitments. In addition, I directed his attention to the fact that the ships the Norwegian Government had received were not part of the commitment but were of advantage to them in that they yielded some revenue to [Page 90] the Government, employed a number of their seamen, and also flew the Norwegian flag. In response to the proposal that he would like to receive some assurance that ships to be transferred to him in the future would be confirmed in title at the end of the war, I told him that the Maritime authorities were definitely of the opinion that they could not transfer title to any of these vessels until after the war, and that while they would fly the Norwegian flag title would remain in the United States, and that I doubted that the Maritime authorities would be justified to make an agreement to transfer title after the war to a particular vessel or to specified vessels if they were notable to agree now to pass title at this time.
I may add that the Ambassador was very serious in his presentation and appeared to feel very deeply that this Government was very slow in living up to its alleged obligations.