First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill had by then already decided on requisition and when the Turkish ambassador protested on 1 August, he was informed that "in view of the serious situation abroad it was not possible to allow a battleship to leave these waters and pass into the hands of a foreign buyer".
Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty at the time, had already decided on requisition by then. When the Turkish ambassador protested on August 1st, he was told that "due to the serious international situation, it wasn't feasible to permit a battleship to leave these waters and be sold to a foreign nation".