Soviet interest in buying Chilean cruisers
On 24 March 1939, Mr Scott Ferris, attorney for Carp Export and Import Corporation (procurement agency for the Soviet Government), called on Joseph C. Green at the US State Department. During the discussion, Ferris advised that Carp had been commissioned to attempt to purchase two cruisers of British manufacture from the Chilean Government and was fairly certain that he could make the purchase. According to Carp, the Chilean Government had proposed the two cruisers in question with the idea of replacing them with two cruisers of more modern type to be constructed in the US. Green considered it to be extremely unlikely that the Soviet Government would be interested in buying any of the four cruisers now forming part of the Chilean Navy, which dated from 1865, 1893, 1897 and 1898 respectively.