Fellas,
Yes, this is a full discussion group, and not only do I respect that, but I enjoy it. That said, aren't you perhaps making way too much of a crew of Netherlanders aboard an old American four-piper tin can for just a finite period of time? After all, the Dutch had the vessel for only eight months, January to September 1941, according to the entry for USS BUCHANAN (DD-131)
http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd131txt.htm
As of September 1941, the vessel reverted to the Royal Navy, and thereafter was rebuilt to resemble a German escort vessel so she could be rammed into the gates of the large drydock at St. Nazaire. Could the British have done that if the destroyer had been legally "rented" by the Dutch? I think that rather the Brits realized they had enough professional naval seamen from the Netherlands who wanted to fight, contribute to the Allied cause, and get back at Jerry. So give them a ship, let them hoist their own colours, and get on with the job. I suspect the ship was still "rented" by the Brits and crewed by willing Netherlanders, but was readily returned to the former for the noble role that Fate had intended for her. Every source that I have read, including the two books cited in this forum on the 50 DDs "loaned" to Britain specifies HMS CAMPBELTOWN, never Hr.Ms. CAMPBELTOWN....well, at least during her final run as part of the St. Nazaire raid.
As for the Yankee Doodles, once these vessels were out of their hands, they could care? I daresay their response was NOT "Oooh, you say you intend to give seven or eight of these excellent ships--the wonders of the naval world--to a buncha Canucks and Dutchies? No way! We gave over those ships to the Royal Navy and expect every one of them back without a scratch!" I think not. Let's imagine the American admiral on the telephone: "Okay, you wanna transfer seven or eight of these old buckets to our Good Neighbours to the North and some stout Dutch lads. So what's the problem....and why are you bothering me with all this??"
Just to remind, only some of the American four-pipers, I think built in two or three separate but very similar classes, saw action during WW1. Virtually all of the final Clemson class were completed AFTER that earlier war ended, and unquestionably their finest hour came during the war in the NEI. Of thirteen such DDs in the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, five were lost--EDSALL, PEARY, PILLSBURY, POPE, and STEWART--and eight survived to fight another day--ALDEN, BARKER, BULMER, JOHN D. EDWARDS, JOHN D. FORD, PAUL JONES, PARROTT, and WHIPPLE--albeit mostly thereafter in secondary duties (though some saw inclusion in the early U-boat hunter-killer groups in the Atlantic). PARROTT (DD-218) was rammed and decommissioned about a year before the war in the ETO ended. I daresay the intention fairly early on was to use these vessels to the max they could endure and postwar make razor blades out of 'em.
Again, I suspect there was little legal sleight of hand in the case of CAMPBELTOWN: give the Dutch a ship and let them fight, but with the proviso to return her promptly to RN hands when a more essential role was perceived for her. A bare-boat charter was specifically part of maritime law for short-time use of a merchantman. Anyone?
Kit