761.56/5–3150
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Webb)
Mr. Bazykin called at his own request and stated that in connection with the Department’s note of May 8, 1950 he had to inform me on the instructions of the Soviet Government that the icebreakers “North Wind” and “West Wind” could be delivered in the port of Bremerhaven in November-December of 1950. Unusually heavy ice conditions in the Arctic made it impossible to deliver these ice breakers at the previously specified time. The icebreakers were squeezed now in solid [Page 1292] jammed Arctic ice. Abnormal and exceptionally heavy ice conditions in which these icebreakers found themselves in the winter of 1949–1950 had not yet improved and the icebreakers, being squeezed in solid, jammed Arctic ice, were drifting westward. According to the available weather forecasts, the ice conditions in the Arctic in 1950 would be very heavy and therefore it was practically impossible to state at the present time the exact date and the place where the icebreakers would be able to break through the heavy ice. According to the same forecasts, the most favorable conditions which would enable the icebreakers to break through the ice into open waters Were expected in 1950 to be at the end of September or in October. It was because of these very circumstances that the icebreakers could be delivered in the port of Bremerhaveh in November or December.
I told Mr. Bazykin that the interested American authorities would be very disappointed at this information since they had counted on receiving these ships in time to make use of them during the coming summer season. I told him that we would want to be kept informed regarding the progress of the vessels so that in the event they got free of the ice earlier than predicted we could make appropriate provisions for their reception. Mr. Bazykin said he would of course be glad to do so and that one could not exclude the possibility that they might become available earlier than predicted. In reply to the question as to the present location of the icebreakers, Mr. Bazykin said that he was uninformed.