The Panay Incident - 12-Dec-37

Background: The USS Panay was a small gunboat commissioned in 1928 to protect American on the Yangtze River in China. In December, 1937, two days day before the Japanese conquered the Chinese capital of Nanking, the Panay took on American diplomats and VIPs, and escorted three small river tankers belonging to Standard Oil loaded with refugees up the river toward Hankow. The next day, Japanese aircraft attacked the USS Panay and the tankers despite their prominent display of an American flag, sinking the gunboat and two of the tankers.

Map: Blue Map (Yangste is more than 2 miles wide at this point)

Game Length: 20 turns

Aircraft:	Imperial Japanese Navy	=	6 Mitsubishi G3M1 Nell 6 Aichi D1A2 divebombers
	US Navy Standard Oil	=	USS Panay Mei Ping, Mei An, Mei Hsia (Standard Oil river tankers)

Setup

Set up all four vessels near the middle of the board, spaced 2-3 hexes apart, with Panay trailing. All vessels speed 1/6.
G3M1s set up 12-20 hexes from nearest vessel in 2 vics, altitude 11.0, speed 4.0, in level flight.
D1A2s Enter on Turn 4 from board edge behind G3M1 original facing, alt 6.0, speed 4.0 in level flight, organized into 2 Vics

Additional Rules

Panay may attempt to increase speed normally.
G3M1 bombers are each loaded with 6x 500 Kg bombs
D1A2s are each armed with 1x250 Kg bomb.

Special Rules

None

ADCs

Aichi D1A2 ADC is available from Uncle Ted's.
SDCs for USS Panay and the river tankers are available from Uncle Ted's.

Sources

The Panay Incident; Prelude to War, M. Kostinos
The Panay Incident (includes newsreel footage)
The War At Sea, Vol III Rising Sun in the Pacific, Morison
"How the Panay Was Sunk," Commander Okumiya, U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, June, 1953 pp. 587-96.

Back to China Alone Campaign

Have a question, comment, or complaint? Let me hear about it.