Roosevelt announces 'Lend-Lease'

17th December 1940: The US president announces a scheme to supply munutions to Britain - a lifeline that keeps her in the war

The United States had already agreed to supply Britain with 50 old destroyers in exchange for use of Naval bases in the Caribbean. Roosevelt’s proposal now went a lot further. The USS Twiggs, commissioned in 1919, became HMS Leamington in 1940, the Canadian ship HMCS Leamington in 1942 and finally the Soviet ship USSRS Zhguchy in 1944.

Churchill had writ…