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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations

 

CABLEGRAM SENT. 30th July EWC

To: Opnav, Washington.        Serial No. 2038.

Prep. by: 2.        C of S.

CONFIDENTIAL.

2038. My 1827, and letter referred to therein.1 Action recommended in regard to additional Destroyer Tenders is not meant to indicate in any way that shore repair shops at Brest, Lorient, on the Gironde, Gibraltar and Azores, as recommended in various cables and latters, [i.e., letters] and understood to be in course of preparation for shipment, are not required at earliest practicable date. These repair shops on shore are essential for supplementing the Destroyer Tenders at the Points of maximum concentration of our forces, and will be called upon to serve transports and merchant vessels as well as Naval vessels. On the other hand the additional Destroyer Tenders are needed in order to permit as great mobility and flexibility in the distribution of our forces as possible, which will become of greater importance as the number of our vessels increase, thereby permitting their utilization for purposes other than convoy duty on fixed routes, and perhaps involving thereby a greater dispersion of forces than is at present the case. <21330,>

SIMS.

Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG 45, Entry 517B.

Footnote 1: This letter has not been found.