857.85/11–1942
Memorandum by President Roosevelt to the Assistant Secretary of State (Long)
What is the status of the transfer of American built ships, to the Norwegian flag? They ask for ten of them and ask for modern ships, not very old ones.
I see no reason why this should not be done under Lend-Lease, for the very simple reason that the Norwegians have a good number of merchant crews which have no ships to sail, and the transfer to the Norwegian flag would mean that the ships would be used for the same purpose as American flagships are used—part of the general pool. They have idle men—we have the ships—why not marry them?