It was in these circumstances that Winston Churchill, who had become Prime Minister on 10 May 1940, first wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt to request the loan of fifty obsolescent US Navy destroyers.
Det var på denne baggrund, at Winston Churchill, som var blevet udnævnt til premierminister den 10. maj 1940, skrev til præsident Franklin Roosevelt og anmodede om at låne 50 aflagte destroyere af USA.