Following Britain’s isolation after the Fall of France and the Dunkirk evacuation, the Royal Navy was dangerously short of ships for convoy duty. German U-Boats threatened Britain’s remaining lifeline, the Atlantic Ocean, and desperately needed destroyers and fast vessels to protect convoys. The United States, mindful of Britain’s precarious position as well as the proximity of some British possessions to US territory, was keen to establish control over certain British naval bases and airfields.

The United States has passed the neutrality acts in the 1930s that prevent the US from supplying war material to any nations involved in a conflict. However in 1940, President Roosevelt bypassed the Neutrality Act and sent small arms ammunition and weapons to Britain. Britain however still needed ships.

On August 30, 1940, Roosevelt authorised the transfer of 50 destroyers to the Royal Navy. These ships had been built during the First World War when the US had undertaken a massive naval build up and had been sitting in reserve since then and as such were in rather poor condition. In exchange, the United States received 99 year, rent free possession of British naval and air bases in Antigua, The Bahamas, British Guiana, Jamaica, St Lucia and Trinidad. The US also gained possessions of some British airfields and naval stations in Bermuda and Newfoundland though these were not exchanged for ships.