Lend Lease, WW2           Some Naval Aspects and Ships Involved.

"The United States should loan what articles were needed, as a man would loan his garden hose to help his neighbor put out a fire without reference to payment, but with the expectation that the hose itself would be returned." -- FDR   17Dec41.

Lend-Lease was a way to send aid to allies without having to demand payment. After all, England only had so many island worthy of creating into bases that they could lease to us in exchange for warships. Eventually becomes $50 billion dollars in lend-lease during the war to many countries: 60% to UK, 20% USSR, 20% France, China, others.

Neutrality Act 1935
Modified to "Cash and Carry" - 1939
Destroyers for Bases - Sep'40
"Neighbors house on fire" - Dec'40
Lend-Lease Bill - Jan'41
Debate: Hitler violated K-B Pact of 1928
Bill Passed - 11Mar41
Coast Guard Cutters - 10Apr41.
Lend Lease extended to de Gaulle's forces - 24Nov41.
Turkey has "for some time" received lend lease aid - 3Dec41.
[war]
Lend Lease ends with War - Sep'45.
Fulbright Act.
$10.5 billion returned.

Carrier (BAVG) (British Auxiliary Aircraft General) Long Island and Archer class: 12,000 tons, 16 a/c. Converted from existing merchant ships with a flat deck of wood thrown on; later ships had an island.

Carrier CVE. Brogue class: 15,000 tons, 20 a/c. Made from merchant hulls that had not been completed (14 ships), then new (23), these includes improvements suggested by experience with Long Island.

Destroyers (DD) : Caldwell, Wickes, and Clemson classes, flush deck, 4-stack, 1,100 tons, 4- 4"; ships built for WWI,
First commissioned 1918-1920, these had been in the reserve fleet. Forty had been ordered recommissioned on 13Sep39 to support a Neutrality Patrol, a few days after the start of hostilities in Europe; 35 more had been recommissioned by 1940 and were ready to transfer. Britain desperately need convoy escorts and many existing ships had been damaged in the withdrawal at Dunkirk in May 27-Jun 4, 1940. Fifty older destroyers were transferred to Britain 3Sep40 in a trade for leases on British bases, thus predating the official lend lease program of free material aid. 17May40 President Roosevelt announces plans for recommissioning 35 more "flush deck" destroyers to meet the requirements of fleet expansion and the Neutrality Patrol.

Coast Guard Cutters. FDR announced the decision to transfer the ten ships 30Apr41; familiarization started immediately with the first transfer of 4 ships on 30Apr41 and the last of the ten transfers completed 30May41. Although Lake Class, the latest 1941 models, were promised, it was Chelan Class CGC-46 to CGC-54, 1928-32, that were accepted for immediate delivery.   With better sea-keeping capabilities than destroyers, these were needed for the stormy North Atlantic. The destroyers had a length to beam ratio of 10, whereas a cutter had a ratio of 6.

Frigate (FF) - these were essentially destroyer escorts without torpedo tubes. Most were transferred to the Soviets.

Patrol Craft (PC) were steel hulled ships of 173 feet and 284 tons.   Intended for coastal patrol, many provided convoy escort in their passage overseas. There were particularly valuable as invasion control boats where their shallow draft allowed them to maneuver with landing craft.

Sub Chasers (SC) are wooden hulled ships of 110 feet and 198 tons made by many boatyards. Intended for patrol at harbor and river mouths in all weather.

He (FDR) was largely responsible for extensive United States lend lease aid to Britain after the fall of France in 1940.
11Mar41. US votes Lend-Lease Act to aid England.
11Nov41. Lend Lease for France.
21Nov41. Lend Lease for Iceland.

Submarine S-25 was decommissioned on 4 November 1941, and transferred, simultaneously to Great Britain. Renamed HMS P. 551, she was then loaned to the government of Poland, in exile, and was accepted by LtComdr. B. Romanowski of the Polish Navy and commissioned as Jastrzab ("Hawk") (P-551). Jastrzab was mistakenly sunk by Allied convoy escorts HMS Seagull and Norwegian destroyer St. Albans off Norway on 2 May 1942 while assigned to escort the convoy from the Shetlands to Murmansk, at 71°30' N, 12°32'E.

11Mar41.The President was empowered by an Act of Congress to provide goods and services to those nations whose defense he deemed vital to the defense of the United States, thus initiating a Lend-Lease program under which large quantities of the munitions and implements of war were delivered to our allies. The Archer (BAVG 1) transferred on 17 November 1941, as the first of 38 escort carriers transferred to the United Kingdom during the war.

In December 1941, the Navy had 77 small ships classified as patrol vessels, along with 74 Coast Guard ships, to counter the Nazi U-boat threat off U.S. coastal waters. The majority of these vessels were of World War I vintage. The rest were converted private yachts, and a few newly constructed 173-foot, steel-hull PCs and 110-foot SC patrol vessels. The PC and SC subchasers accounted for more than 790 ships in the patrol vessel fleet. A total 359 PCs and 438 SCs were constructed by various ship builders along the East and Gulf coasts, Great Lakes, inland waterways, and West Coast. Forty-four PCs and 142 SCs were transferred to U.S. allies under the Lend-Lease program and served in seven Allied navies. [more in patrol.txt]

Navy Chronology

30Nov40. Sat. United States lends [pre-lend-lease] $50 million to China for currency stabilization and grants an additional $50 million credit for purchase of supplies.

03Dec40. Tue. President Roosevelt embarks in heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA-37) at Miami, Florida, to inspect base sites acquired from the British under the destroyers-for-bases agreement. During the cruise, he will broach the lend-lease concept that he will implement upon his return to Washington.

11Mar41. Tue. United States Congress passes Lend-Lease Act; "cash and carry" provisions of Neutrality Act of 1939 are changed to permit transfer of munitions to Allies. Although criticized by isolationists, the Act proves to be the primary means by which the United States will provide Great Britain, the USSR, and other belligerents with war material, food, and financial aid without the U.S. having to enter combat.

10Apr41. Thu. President Roosevelt, equating the defense of the United Kingdom to the defense of the United States, authorizes, under Lend-Lease, the transfer of 10 "Lake"-class Coast Guard cutters to the Royal Navy. Coast Guardsmen will train the British crews in the waters of Long Island Sound.

Apr 30, Wed. First four "Lake"-class Coast Guard cutters are turned over to the Royal Navy: Pontchartrain becomes HMS Hartland ; Tahoe becomes HMS Fishguard ; Mendota becomes HMS Culver ; Itasca becomes HMS Gorleston.

02May41. Fifth "Lake"-class Coast Guard cutter, authorized for transfer on 10 April under Lend-Lease, is turned over to the Royal Navy. Chelan becomes HMS Lulworth.

12May41. Three "Lake"-class Coast Guard cutters, authorized for transfer on 10 April under Lend-Lease, are turned over to the Royal Navy. Champlain becomes HMS Sennen; Sebago becomes HMS Walney, and Cayuga becomes HMS Totland.

20May41. Ninth "Lake"-class Coast Guard cutter, authorized for transfer on 10 April under Lend-Lease, is turned over to the Royal Navy: Shoshone becomes HMS Languard.

30May41. Fri. Last "Lake"-class Coast Guard cutter, authorized for transfer on 10 April under Lend-Lease, is transferred to the Royal Navy: Itasca becomes HMS Gorleston. [dup name?]

21Nov41. Lend-Lease is extended to Iceland.

01Mar43. U.S. freighter Wade Hampton, straggling from convoy HX 227, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-405 at 59°55'N, 35°55'E; British corvette HMS Vervain rescues 41 merchant seamen and 26 Armed Guard sailors (see 3 March 1943). Lost with Wade Hampton are Soviet motor torpedo boats RPT 1 (ex-PT-85) and RPT 3 (ex-PT-87), lend-lease craft being carried as deck cargo.

16Oct43. American-built destroyer escorts transferred under Lend-Lease to Great Britain (HMS Byard, HMS Bentinck, HMS Berry, HMS Drury, and HMS Bazely) enter combat for the first time as escorts for convoy ONS 20. Byard will sink U-841 on 17 October. The British classify the ships as "frigates."

[CA-37.txt]

{[A week later, the German Army invaded Poland, plunging Europe into war. The outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939 found Tuscaloosa at NOB Norfolk. On the 5th President Roosevelt established the Neutrality Patrol; and, the next day, the cruiser departed for her first patrol...]}

On 3 December 1940 at Miami, President Roosevelt embarked in TUSCALOOSA for the third time for a cruise to inspect the base sites obtained from Great Britain in the recently negotiated "destroyers for bases" deal. In that transaction, the United States had traded 50 old flush-decked destroyers for 99-year leases on bases in the western hemisphere. Ports of call included Kingston, Jamaica; Santa Lucia, Antigua; and the Bahamas. Roosevelt fished and entertained British colonial officials -- including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor -- on board the cruiser.

While the President cruised in TUSCALOOSA, American officials in Washington wrestled with the problem of extending aid to Britain. Having barely weathered the disastrous campaign in France in the spring and the Battle of Britain in the summer, the United Kingdom desperately needed war materiel. American production could meet England's need, but American neutrality law limiting the purchase of arms by belligerents to "cash-and-carry" transactions was about to become a major obstacle, for British coffers were almost empty. While pondering England's plight as he luxuriated in TUSCALOOSA, the President hit upon the idea of the "lend-lease" program to aid the embattled British.

On 16 December, Roosevelt left the ship at Charleston, S.C., to head for Washington to implement his "lend-lease" idea -- one more step in United States' progress towards full involvement in the war.

[CA45.html]

On 3 April 1942, WICHITA's task force rendezvoused with three British light cruisers, HMS EDINBURGH, HMS GAMBIA, and HMS FROBISHER. EDINBURGH then guided the American ships into Scapa Flow their new base of operations, arriving there on the 4th. Over the weeks that ensued, WICHITA exercised out of Scapa Flow with units of the British Fleet.

The heavy cruiser, her training and indoctrination with the Royal Navy completed, subsequently put to sea on 28 April to cover the movement of Convoys QP-11 and PQ-15 -- ships sailing to and coming from the vital lend-lease port of Murmansk. Evidence of German activity soon appeared in the form of reports of shadowing aircraft and lurking U boats.

After the force had completed its coverage of QP-11, it returned toward Seidisfjord, Iceland. The men-of-war from the United States Navy of the mixed American-British force were detached and put into Hvalfjordur where they arrived on 6 May.

Following almost a week in port, WICHITA got underway on the 12th and relieved TUSCALOOSA on patrol in Denmark Strait, between Iceland and Greenland. A week later, she returned to Hvalfjordur only to put to sea as part of a joint American-British covering force protecting one leg of the movement of Murmansk-bound Convoy PQ-16 and eastbound QP-12 before returning to Scapa Flow, her mission accomplished, on the 29th.

Underway for Hvalfjordur on the 12th and arriving on the 14th, WICHITA relieved the heavy cruiser HMS CUMBERLAND on "White Patrol" in Denmark Strait soon thereafter. While on patrol on the 17th, WICHITA spotted a Focke-Wulf (FW) 200 "Condor," a four engined maritime reconnaissance and bomber aircraft, and opened fire, driving off the snooper. Three days later, the heavy cruiser scared off another FW-200.

Enemy activity near the Murmansk convoy routes and in Denmark Strait area did not let up over ensuing days. On the 21st, WICHITA sighted a submarine periscope and took evasive action -- no attack was forthcoming though, and the cruiser soon resumed her patrolling. The next day, she spotted her third "Condor" but did not fire.

WICHITA then proceeded to Hvalfjordur and steamed thence to Seidisfjordur at the end of June. Underway from the latter port on the 30th to cover Convoy PQ-17, the warship sortied as part of the "Cruiser Covering Force" (WICHITA with three other heavy cruisers and a trio of destroyers). Other support forces included two battleships, a carrier, one heavy and one light cruiser apiece, and nine additional destroyers.

The convoy itself was a large one -- 36 merchantmen (laden with a variety of war cargo consigned to the Russians under lend-lease) and one "CAM-ship" (a catapult-equipped merchantman with one "Hurricane" fighter for local convoy defense). Unfortunately, an ordeal lay ahead of these Allied ships.

By 1 July, it was evident that the Germans had detected [story of lost convoy]

EMERGENCE OF THE ESCORT CARRIERS By Scot MacDonald [old address now links to a commercial site]   mirror

"The U.S. suffered few losses to the enemy in these ships. Five carriers of the Casablanca class were lost in the Pacific; one Bogue class was torpedoed in the Atlantic. During the war years, 76 CVE’s of various classes were commissioned, in addition to the Long Island, commissioned months earlier. Seven more Commencement Bay class were commissioned during the post-war years. During the war, four sister ships to Long Island were transferred to the British, as were 34 additional escort carriers of the Bogue class. Four were sunk; at the end of the war, the rest were returned to the U.S. from Lend-Lease and were either sold or placed in the reserve fleet."

The Destroyer Escort as a Class was an American design to meet a British need for something more powerful than the corvettes for antisubmarine convoy duty. Fifty were initially ordered for lend-lease, soon raised to 250. When the US entered the war, most were diverted to the US Navy, which had no DEs on order, and only 55 were delivered to England. Even these, with delivery starting in Jan 1943, missed the most critical period of the Battle for the Atlantic. Of over one thousand ordered, 563 were completed with most assigned immediately to the Pacific. Destroyer escorts were named for naval heroes and other notable persons. All destroyer escorts were numbered in a single series, designated "DE". Surviving ships became Frigates (designated FF) 30 June 1975.

[CL-5]

On 4 April 1944 four escorts of the Russian Navy joined the convoy now headed for Archangel. A few hours later Milwaukee (CL-5) left the convoy and headed for Kola Inlet. There on 20 April 1944 the ship was transferred on loan to the Soviet Union under lend-lease. She commissioned in the Russian Navy as Murmansk and performed convoy and patrol duty along the Atlantic sea lanes throughout the remainder of the war. Transferred back to the United States 16 March 1949, Milwaukee, the first of 15 American warships returned by Russia.

Soon after war broke out in Europe in September 1939, Texas (BB-35) began operating on the "neutrality patrol," established to keep the war out of the western hemisphere. Later, as the United States moved toward more active support of the Allied cause, the warship began convoying ships carrying Lend-Lease material to Great Britain.

Washington (BB-56) engaged in maneuvers and battle practice with units of the Home Fleet, out of Scapa Flow, into late April 1942, when TF 39 was redesignated as TF 99 with Washington as flagship. On the 28th, the force got underway to engage in reconnaissance for the protection of the vital convoys running lend-lease supplies to Murmansk in the Soviet Union.

BARNES (CVE-7)

dsp. 7,800; lng. 495’ 8”; bem. 111’ 6”; drf. 26’; spd. 18 k.; cpl. 890 ; arm. 2 5”; cl. BOGUE

BARNES (CVE-7) was built by Western Pipe and Steel Co., San Francisco, Calif. She was commissioned 30 September 1942 and transferred to the United Kingdom, under Lend-Lease, on the same day, as HMS ATTACKER. The vessel was returned to the United States’ custody 5 January 1946 and sold 28 October 1946.

Block Island (CVE-8) was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, Miss. She was transferred to the United Kingdom, under Lend-Lease, 9 January 1943 and commissioned the following day as HMS Hunter. The vessel was returned to United States' custody 29 December 1945 and sold 17 January 1947.

Breton (CVE-10) was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, Miss. She was commissioned 9 April 1943 and transferred the same day, under Lend-Lease to the United Kingdom as HMS Chaser. The carrier was returned to United States' custody 12 May 1946 and sold 20 December 1946.

No name assigned Lend-Lease as HMS Archer (D78) ex merchant Mormacland BAVG 1

No name assigned ex merchant Rio Hudson Lend-Lease as HMS Avenger (D14) MC Hull 59 BAVG 2

[All of them, to:]

Winjah Lend-Lease as HMS Reaper (D82 - R324) AVG 54 - ACV 54 - CVE 54

Sargent Bay (CVE-83), originally classified AVG-83, was reclassified ACV-83 on 20 August 1942; allocated to Great Britain, under Lend Lease, on 11 November, reallocated to the United States on 21 June 1943; reclassified CVE-83 on 15 July; laid down on 8 November 1943 by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., Vancouver, Wash., under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1120); launched on 31 January 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Edith W. DeBaun, and commissioned on 9 March 1944, Capt. W.T. Rassieur in command. M.C.E.-Maritime Commission Emergency Ship Program ("Liberty" ships) M.C.V.-Maritime Commission Victory Ship Program ("Victory" ships)

Liberty Ships. Sep 27, 1941. First Maritime Commission "Emergency Cargo" EC-2 type freighter (Liberty Ship), Patrick Henry, "Give me liberty...", is launched at Baltimore, Maryland. This standardized type of ship is to be put into mass production in American shipyards to fulfill the need for merchant vessels in a wartime economy. 2,750 ships the USA during World War II. Don't know yet how many were lend lease.
Displacement : 7,176 Tons. (10,800 tons)
Length : 441.5 feet. ; Width : 56 feet.
Propulsion Unit : 3 cylinder, Fuel oil powered, 2,500 Horsepower unit.
Maximum Speed : 11 Knots. ; Total Crew : 81.
Arms: 1- 4", stern gun; 2- 37 mm bow guns; 6- 20 mm.

Victory Ships (VC2) -- 534 ships were built. The second generation of the Emergency design, the Victory ships were larger, faster and with reinforced hull, first launched February 28 1944.
Displacement : Tons ; Length : 455 feet ; Width : 62 feet ;
Propulsion Unit : cross-compound steam turbine with double reduction gears developed 6,000 or 8,500 horsepower
Maximum Speed : 15 Knots. ; Total Crew : ??.
Arms: 1- 5", stern; 1- 3" bow; 8- 20mm.

[source: http://british-forces.com/world_war2/otherfiles/lend_lease.html] United States Lend-Lease aid to the British Empire

	Total.	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945
		Mar-Dec				Jan to June	|July to August
Ships (sail-away)	2,107	65	195	1,078	540	160	69

American Lend-Lease supplied 38 escort aircraft carriers, 107 frigates, 22 corvettes and 37 minesweepers, of which 8 frigates, 7 corvettes and 15 minesweepers were built in Canada. These were all new built. In addition to the 50 older destroyers, 9 submarines and 9 Coast guard cutters; these and one new escort carrier were supplied before the US entered the war. Lend Lease to the Soviet Union.
From Aug 1941, 40 convoys went across the North Atlantic to Russia containing 720 ships, of which 90 were lost, which provided 23% of the aid to the Soviet Union. Over twice as much went by way of the Far East. The rest by way of the Persian Gulf, Black Sea or Artic.
UK aid entailed 811 shiploads by all routes.

Lend Lease Shipnames listed by ship types.
"Lend Lease Aircraft In World War 2 : An Operational History" by Arthur Pearcy $20 at Amazon.com . I noticed this the other day.

Note : Need to search on the word "transferred to".