Question

Why did president franklin d roosevelt give britain 50 battleships?

Answer 1

Britain needed the battleships to convoy goods across the Atlantic. They weren't just "given" to Britain at all, but transferred in exchange for use of British bases.

Answer 2

President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave Great Britain fifty battleships in the destroyers-for-bases deal. In the destroyers-for-bases deal, the United States gave Britain fifty aging destroyers and received in exchange ninety-nine years leases on eight British bases in the Western Hemisphere. This was a request by Winston Churchill to be able to defend the English Channel against feared German invasion.