The RAN strongly supported the purchase but General MacArthur, the supreme allied commander of the war in the Pacific, advised that Australia in reality depended on the US Navy and should prioritise air defence of its own land bases, not small carriers and cruisers. The Australian government feared they were being sold unwanted pups and preferred to build locally. However, in February 1945, the Australian government and its Defence Committee accepted the two-Tiger offer. The British Treasury would not gift the cruisers to Australia as they had done so for the Royal Canadian Navy and on 11 April 1945 the UK Exchequer demanded 9 million pounds for the later "Lion" and "Blake".