In the Destroyers for Bases Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom on September 2, 1940, fifty mothballed Caldwell, Wickes, and Clemson-class US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the United States Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions. Generally referred to as the "twelve hundred-ton type" (also known as "flush-deck", or "four-pipers" after their four funnels), the destroyers became the Town-class and were named after towns common to both the United States and Britain.[1] The agreement was a violation of the official neutral position of the United States.On September 2, 1940, as the Battle of Britain intensified, United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull signaled agreement to the transfer of the warships to the Royal Navy. In exchange, the US was granted land in various British possessions for the establishment of naval or air bases, on ninety-nine-year rent-free leases, on: Newfoundland (today part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador) Eastern side of the Bahamas Southern coast of Jamaica Western coast of St. Lucia West coast of Trinidad (Gulf of Paria) Antigua British Guiana (present day Guyana) within fifty miles of Georgetown The agreement also granted the US air and naval base rights in: The Great Sound and Castle Harbour, Bermuda South and eastern coasts of Newfoundland
