Coll 30/59 'Persian Gulf. Creation of Persian Navy, etc' [‎156r] (312/624)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT.
PERSIA.
CONFIDENTIAL
July 10, 1930.
Section 1.
E 3684/36/34|
No. 1.
Sir R. Clive to Mr. A. Henderson.—(Received July 10.)
(No. 290. Confidential.)
Sir, Gulhek, June 26, 1930.
I HAVE the honour to report that in a conversation with the Italian Charge
d'Affaires I elicited the following information :—
2. M. Straneo said that early in May Teymourtache was pressing him to obtain
a definite promise of early delivery of two at least of the gunboats which the Persian
Government had decided to order in Italy. He replied that as soon as a definite order
had been given and the sum agreed upon as advance payment handed over, two of the
ships would be laid down.
3. I understood him to say that after much shilly-shallying the Persian
Minister in Rome had been credited last month with the amount required as advance
payment, and a definite order had been given. Two ships were accordingly laid down
in May. The Italians had promised delivery if possible within fourteen months, but
not later than eighteen months; this would mean some date between July and
November 1931.
4. I asked M. Straneo if he could tell me what was the size and type of ship
ordered. He seemed very vague about this, but said he believed they were “sort of
small cruisers and very roomy ” and that there were to be four of one type, totalling
14,000 tons (displacement), and subsequently two more slightly bigger. However,
all these questions had been dealt with by Captain del Prato and Major Dezan. The
latter was in Italy. In connexion with the foregoing, I would refer you to the memo
randum enclosed in my despatch No. 110 of the 27th February, 1929. M. Straneo
believed that the two vessels ordered (and at present only two had been ordered) were
to be constructed at Naples. Lie professed to have no idea what the cost would be.
5. It would be of interest if His Majesty’s naval attache in Rome were able to
check this information.
6. To me the whole matter appears to be very typically Persian. The Minister
of Court, having come to realise that His Majesty’s Government were not prepared
to make Persia a present of a number of small warships, decided, regardless of e st
and on the advice of an Italian naval officer with no experience of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
to order from Italy various naval units, which may well prove to be unnecessarily
large and expensive to maintain while possibly ill-adapted for the only purpose for
which they could be justified—namely, the prevention of contraband.
7. In the last few weeks there have been references in the Persian press to the
necessity of converting Bushire into a first-class port. Taqizadeh, the Minister of
Communications, spoke to Mr. Jacks, the resident director of the Anglo-Persian Oil
Company, on the subject, and enquired what he thought would be the cost. Mr. Jacks
promised to send an engineer from the marine department at Abadan to make a pre
liminary enquiry. This, again, is typically Persian, to order ships first and then to
enquire where they can be docked.
Copies of this despatch have been sent to the Government of India and the
Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
I have, &c.
R. H. CLIVE.
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