Mr. Churchill stated that "shipping is the crunch of the whole war" and "the war would be decided in the Atlantic" and that "if Hitler cannot win there, he cannot win anywhere in the world at the end." President Roosevelt acknowledged Churchill and began another movement to aid Britain. Vessels known as the Liberty Fleet were created. They were four hundred twenty feet in length and able to carry cargo of over ten thousand tons. The order by Roosevelt turned out sixty ships for the sole purpose of aiding the British. These vessels transported the drastically needed supplies was desperate for across the Atlantic Ocean. Roosevelt also sent convoys along with the merchant vessels for protection against the German Navy. This worked and began to help Britain regain some strength, yet it would take more United States' aid to rejuvenate the Allied attack. The rejuvenation continued in March of 1941. The U.S was in higher demand by Britain. Britain had nearly run out of funds for arms. This would leave them vulnerable. America the ally responded once more. On March 11, 1941 Congress passed the Lend-Lease act. The newly placed law allowed the United States government to purchase or manufacture war materials paid by the federal budget such as planes, machines, ships, raw materials, food supplies and industrial products and then lend or lease them to an allied country. This freed seven billion dollars worth of allowance for Britain to use for the war effort. .
The most powerful and most crucial part of American defense in the Pacific Ocean was that of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. This fleet was usually stationed somewhere along the west coast of the United States, and made a training cruise to Hawaii each year. With war threatening, the U.S. Pacific Fleet was moved to the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii. This was the perfect location for the American forces in the Pacific because of its location, halfway between the United States west coast and the Japanese military bases in the Marshall Islands.
