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Naval History and Heritage Command

Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché at Washington, to British Admiralty

                TELEGRAM.               No. 369

From  Commodore Gaunt Washington              DATE11.9.17.

[11 September 1917]

To                                            Sent 5.45pm

 Recd 3.5am.       

‘K’

369 POG Admiral Benson after discussing situation with Japanese Mission asks me to what extent we can be responsible for the Eastern Pacific.1 The Japanese offered to Base one Armoured Cruiser on Hawaii. I understand Americans told the Mission that they did not think it advisable to have Japanese vessels in Mexican waters or adjacent.2

Source Note: Cy, UK-KeNA, Adm. 137/658. There is a routing list at the bottom of this copy: “1. S.L. [Adm. Sir John R. Jellicoe]/[Former First Sea Lord and Admiralty advisor] Sir A[rthur].Wilson/D.O.D. [Director, Operations Division RAdm. George P. W. Hope]/D.I.D. [Director, Intelligence Division RAdm. William R. Hall].”

Footnote 1: The Admiralty’s reply has not been found but on 4 October they asked Gaunt to inform the Americans that “two British and two Japanese Cruisers are now operating in South Sea Island” and that the Australian Navy had also been ordered to send a ship to patrol the area. Ibid., Adm. 137/659.

Footnote 2: In October 1917, The U.S. and Japanese navies reached an understanding whereby the Japanese would provide a cruiser to protect the Hawaiian Islands while the U.S. Navy would continue to patrol and protect Pacific coastal waters. Braisted, The United States Navy in the Pacific, 1909-1922, 335.

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