Panay's crew trying to defend themselves, as Japanese aircraft attack their ship. (Artwork by Tony Bryan from Yangtze River Gunboats 1900-49 by Angus Konstam. Published in Great Britain and the USA by Osprey Publishing) The USS Panay incident was a Japanese bombing attack on the U.S. Navy river gunboat Panay and three Standard Oil Company tankers on the Yangtze River near the Chinese capital of Nanjing on 12 December 1937. Japan and the United States were not at war at the time. The boats were part of the American naval operation called the Yangtze Patrol, which began following the joint British, French, and American victory in the Second Opium War. The bombing raid resulted in the sinking of the Panay as well as the deaths of three Americans on board, plus an unknown but likely high casualty toll amongst the Chinese passengers in the three river tankers. Public reaction was mixed in the U.S., with the president weighing various diplomatic and military responses only to settl...