Interesting historical footnote where the Soviets used US ports on the west coast. (p8) Since neither the USSR or Japan could afford to widen the war by engaging each other, Russian merchant vessels were relatively safe to transit the Pacific, carrying supplies needed to defeat Germany, Japan’s “ally.” That’s quite an anomaly.
We transferred a bunch of American freighters to the USSR and they flew the Soviet flag. They sailed happily and unmolested across the North Pacific to Vladivostok and back. There was not one damn thing the Germans could do about it and they were not happy with the Japanese.