The battleship Marat, which had arrived to take part in the coronation festivities, left yesterday. She was docked at Spithead for a week. The effect of her appearance was certainly positive. First, it was a sort of official recognition of the Soviet navy on the part of England. Soviet ships had never participated in naval parades in Great Britain before. Second, it was a good display of the efficiency of our navy. Two things particularly impressed the English: (a) during that week there was not a single case of drunken misbehaviour, a single fight or a single scandal involving sailors from the Marat. So the ‘jail’ prepared for Soviet sailors just in case remained empty, whereas similar ‘jails’ prepared for sailors from other countries had no lack of clientele; (b) on entering Spithead, the Marat moored in the space of 55 minutes, whereas warships of other nations spent several hours on this operation, while, at the previous coronation in 1911, it had taken a Russian battleship a whole 15 hours; (c) the arrival of the Marat was interpreted in court and political circles as a sign of the USSR’s friendly disposition towards England. Churchill told me that the king and the government were particularly impressed by the ‘Hurrah!’ with which the Marat sailors greeted the passing royal yacht, as custom demands. It was an ordinary Russian ‘Hurrah!’ – broad, booming and repercussive. However, compared to the short and abrupt hurrahs of the English and most other nations, which sounded rather like the barking of dogs, it was perceived by court circles as especially warm and cordial. Even the press said the same.