The Hussard
In early 1922, Latvia undertook negotiations with the French for the procurement of warships. Eager to build a foundation for capturing future Latvian naval orders, the French proposed ceding several small, obsolete naval vessels to Latvia, among them the destroyer Hussard, completed in 1912. In March 1922 the French Navy agreed but attached the condition that future Latvian naval orders had to go to French industry. The Latvians would also have to pay 300,000 francs to put the vessel in a useable state. The offer did not stay open long. The tender was withdrawn nearly as soon as it was made, partially because of concerns over its legality under the terms of the Washington Treaties. The French Foreign Ministry though, still wanted to know if the Latvians would have accepted the deal. They would have.
This offer did not go un-noticed, although the details were distorted. On 17 July 1922 the US embassy in Britain reported to the State Department that the French Government had offered a ‘destroyer of the 1918 class’ free of cost to Latvia, which had declined the offer on account of the expense of upkeep. On 11 August 1922, the American Commissioner in Riga sent a similar report, adding that the French had made the gift conditional upon all repairs being effected in French navy yards, and all additional equipment for the vessel and future naval supplies being purchased in France.