761.56/11–3050
Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. Julius L. Katz of the Office of Eastern European Affairs
Captain Asherfeld and Commander Davis called Mr. Truesdell this afternoon and in his absence I spoke with them. Captain Asherfeld stated that he had received a copy of the Soviet note of November 24 and was disturbed by the remark in the Soviet note to the effect that the Soviet Government agrees to a resumption of discussions [Page 1322] between naval experts on the condition that these experts discuss the sale of naval vessels to the Soviet Government. Captain Asherfeld and Commander Davis both emphasized that they were bound by a directive of the Secretary of Defense to demand the recall of all U.S. naval craft in Soviet custody.
I replied that I was aware of the tricky language in the Soviet note and was particularly aware of its failure to mention the return of the 186 naval craft we had demanded. I stated that I wasn’t sure how we were going to handle the negotiations in view of our previous offer to sell 242 naval craft to the Soviets.
Captain Asherfeld stated that the situation had changed since our offer to sell in 1948 and that this Government presently needed some of the vessels we had previously offered to the Soviet Government, particularly the minesweepers.
I replied that while I could appreciate the position of the Department of the Navy, a demand for all of the naval vessels would not accomplish anything positive in the way of recapturing vessels and would be merely for the record. I further stated that I believed we had to decide whether the return of some vessels was better than none at all.
Commander Davis agreed that a demand for all would probably result in the return of none but again emphasized the directive of the Secretary of Defense.
Captain Asherfeld then stated that he would get up a list of naval craft in order of priority and that we might be able to work out something along this line.
It was agreed that we would discuss this matter further when the priority list was drawn up.