Memorandum from Admiral Robert Dennison to President Harry S. Truman, with Attachment
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OCR Page 1 of 3WLTCASF.SUBJ)228
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DECLASSIFIED NLT-85-19 - (Nxc lueno 7-21-57)
Authority
Date 8-12-57 THE WHITE HOUSE
By DEB NLT
WASHINGTON
TOP UNCLASSIFIED
January 4, 1952
SECURITY INFORMATION
ARCHIVES TRUMAN "INATIONAL AND A
RECORDS
ADMIN
MEMORANDUM FOR:
gove
The President
Subject: Value of Dairen and Port Arthur to circumvent
blockade of China coast
An examination of the feasibility of circumventing
a naval blockade of the China coast by using the ports of
Dairen and Port Arthur has been made, as follows:
Dairen is the largest port in Manchuria. Facilities
are available to unload 26,400 long tons of cargo per day
from ships alongside piers, plus 12,500 long tons, per day,
from 25 Liberty-type ships anchored in the stream. There
are 55 berths alongside piers at water depths from 16 to
32 feet and a total of 372 anchorage berths of various
sizes. A double-tracked railroad, capacity 15,000 long
tons, per day, and two improved highways, each having a
capacity of 6-8000 long tons, per day, lead to Mukden.
Port Arthur is located about 20 miles west-south-
west of Dairen; is a minor commercial port with facilities
to unload about 4900 long tons of cargo, per day, from
ships alongside quays. A double-tracked railroad connects
with the main Mukden-Dairen line and a road leads to Dairen.
It is estimated that Communist China imported a
minimum of 20,000 long tons a day by ship during 1951.
If all of this amount went into Dairen and Port Arthur,
it could be unloaded and transported away from the ports
by rail, road and junks. Junks could carry packaged
cargo to Taku and other ports west and north of the
Shantung Promonotory without serious interference from
blockading vessels.
The only way to move significant amounts of
material overland from the north to central and southern
China is via the two main north-south railroads. One of
these passes through Peiping and the other Tientsin; each
has an estimated maximum capacity of 4,000 tons a day.
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