the Atlantic convoy lanes, and in the Dunkirk evacuation had cut deeply into the Royal Navy list of escort ships), Prime Minister Winston Churchill appealed to the U.S. for aid. By the summer of 1940, President Roosevelt hit upon a solution to the problems respectively facing the U.S. and Britain. Accordingly, he and the Prime Minister reached the Destroyers for Bases Agreement; in exchange for transferring 50 World War I-era destroyers to the British, the U.S. would gain 99-year leases on strategic base sites in the Western Hemisphere. As the summer of 1940 gave way to fall, Twiggs began preparation for her transfer to Britain. She arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia—the turnover point for the "50 ships that saved the world"—on 16 October 1940. The destroyer was decommissioned on 23 October, and her name was struck from the Navy list on 8 January 1941. Royal Navy service Turned over to the Royal Navy on 23 October 1940, the flush-decker became HMS Leamington, with the pennant number G 19, and Cdr. W. E. Banks, DSO, in command. She shifted to St. John's, Newfoundland, whence she departed on 4 November as part of the 4th "Town" Flotilla, bound for the British Isles. En route to Belfast, Northern Ireland, she and her sister ships passed through the scene of the action fought on 5 November 1940 by the armed merchant cruiser , in defense of the homeward-bound Convoy HX 84, against the German pocket battleship . Jervis Bays gallant delaying action enabled 32 of the 37 ships in the convoy to escape, although she herself was sunk in the action. Leamington searched for survivors but could find no signs of life. Leamington arrived at Devonport Dockyard, on 15 November, where she was refitted for Royal Navy service. After workup and training, the destroyer was allocated to the 2nd Escort Group, Western Approaches Command, based at Londonderry Port. She conducted convoy escort missions across the Atlantic into 1941. On 28 April 1941, Leamington was one of three escorts detached from Convoy OB 314 to reinforce Convoy HX 121, under attack by German U-boats. When the corvette detected a submarine on her sonar, Leamington and sister ship joined Gladiolus in attacking the contact. Although Gladiolus was credited with sinking the submarine, post-war analysis showed that the submarine, was undamaged. On 27 May 1941, Leamington was part of the escort of Convoy OB 325 when she