Posted on 12/13/2015 3:41:48 PM PST by WhiskeyX
It sounds like a familiar story: on a bright Sunday in December, nearly 70 years ago, Japanese planes blazed out of the sky to strafe and bomb an American warship while it lay at anchor. The surprise attack caught the crew off-guard, and despite valiant action, the ship was critically damaged, had to be abandoned, and soon sank. If you said December 7th, 1941, Pearl Harbor, you’d be wrong. The date was December 12, 1937, and the place was the Yangtze River in war-torn China. The vessel? The gunboat USS Panay. It was a sudden and deliberate attack that might have led to war, save for swift diplomacy, and luck.
(Excerpt) Read more at usspanay.org ...
The Sand Pebbles?
The story is quite a bit different but I always wondered if the “Panay” was the inspiration for “Sand Pebbles” which was a very good movie.
Reading this now:
The lonely ships: The life and death of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet Hardcover – 1976
by Edwin Palmer Hoyt
Same River, different time period.
My first thought too.
“”I always wondered if the “Panay†was the inspiration for “Sand Pebbles†which was a very good movie.””
One of my favorites!!!!!!
The book Sand Pebbles was even better than the movie. As an old Navy and Asia veteran it brought back a lot of experiences.
Ok, thanks. Now that I think about it, the movie may have taken place during the first world war or the 20s.
Someone needs to update their website more than once a decade.
The Sand Pebbles was the nickname for a fictional gunboat, USS San Pablo. All gunboats in the Navy were named for islands. The movie dramatized the Yangtze Patrol during the period just before World War II, but the movie does not include the evacuation on Nanking and the attack on the Panay.
“Hello boat” was that the line?
Wandered into Warensburg on a day off from grading nukes at Whiteman AFB and sat through two showings of the San Pebble and realized no red blooded American male could handle an ax a shovel or firearm like Steve McQueen.later I’d add cars and women to that list.
Yes I have a man crush. I’ve dealt with it.
I forgive you for your man crush. I can’t think of the title, but watch him handle a jeep in a Frank Sinatra war movie from the late 50s. Steve replaced Sammy Davis in the role when Sammy ran afoul of Frank for a few years.
Thanks for the update. I had forgotten the definite historical details (or lack thereof) only remembering the crew was on the Yangtze in the early part of the 20th century.
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