Cablegram unnumbered LONDON, 31 October 1938, 11.32 p.m.
PERSONAL HIMSELF SECRET
Your telegram of28th October [1]: Matter has now been fully examined with the First Lord of the Admiralty [2] and the Board of the Admiralty.
Admiralty’s attitude with regard to a capital ship for the Royal Australian Navy is the same as when the matter was discussed with Page and Menzies. [3] Difficulty is the method of provision.
The present number of capital ships in the Royal Navy is small and a proportion are undergoing refitting. In these circumstances and as a result of discussions I do not see any prospect of the transference of a capital ship from the Royal Navy to the Royal Australian Navy in the near future or at any date much in advance of the deliverance of a new ship.
With regard to the suggestion re Singapore, for the same reasons do not think that an arrangement to operate in the near future could be arrived at.
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1 Document 310.
2 Earl Stanhope.
3 Sir Earle Page, Minister for Commerce, and R. G. Menzies, Attorney-General. See Documents 214, 215.
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[AA : A1608, N51/1/6]