The Sinking of the USS Panay, 1937 

USS Panay
The USS Panay patrolling
the Yangtze, 1928
Japan's sinking of a US gunboat during its assault on Nanking heightened tensions between the two countries four years before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

On the morning of December 12, 1937, the US gunboat Panay was anchored in the middle of the Yangtze River 27 miles upriver from Nanking. On board was a crew of four officers, 49 enlisted men and assorted Chinese natives. Also aboard were a number of foreign nationals escaping the imminent Japanese onslaught on Nanking.

USS Panay
The crew of the
Panay in
better times

The Panay had been patrolling the waters of the Yangtze for nine years, showing the flag and protecting American interests from the numerous Chinese bandits. Trouble was always brewing in China but now the situation was especially dangerous. The Japanese army was encircling the Chinese capital of Nanking forcing the Chinese government to flee. The Panay headed up river to escape the danger zone. With her were three American oil tankers.

Suddenly, Japanese planes appeared overhead. Despite the American flag draped on top of the afterdeck and the ship's obvious markings, three waves of Japanese planes bombed and strafed the ship. The three oil tankers were also destroyed. Two American sailors and an American captain of one the oil tankers were killed.

The Japanese government apologized, called the incident a case of mistaken identity and made reparations of over $2,000,000. The apology did not alleviate the suspicion that the act was deliberate and the incident added to the souring relationship between the two countries.

References: Perry, Hamilton, The Panay Incident: Prelude to Pearl Harbor (1969).

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