In Mutual Recognition of the Value of Seapower: Anglo-American Unity and the Destroyers Transferred Under the Destroyers-for-Bases Deal

Abstract

When the town of Lewes in Sussex commissioned a plaque to commemorate an ex-American destroyer adopted as a part of their Warship Week in the Autumn of 1942, an Admiralty representative stated that the ship symbolised the ‘imperishable’ and ‘unbreakable’ links existent between Britain and America. 1 The local newspaper also reported, ‘The people living in the country did not fully appreciate all that was meant by the term ‘sea power’ and that ‘they existed today through the work of ships like HMS Lewes.’ 2 This article examines the symbolic role of the fifty destroyers transferred under the 1940 destroyers for bases deal, and argues that they became potent emblems of Anglo-American unity. It explores the rhetoric, propaganda, adoptions and naming practices which surrounded the transfer of the destroyers to argue that they were tangible symbols used to publicly navigate issues of British identity and naval power raised by the deal. By examining the ways in which the ships were renamed, repurposed and adopted by regional communities, this paper will demonstrate that the ships were predominantly valuable for their perceived promotion of the relationship between the two navies, governments and nations.