British and American Yangtze gunboats followed a reciprocal rule: whichever vessel was closest responded when the other patrol ran into trouble. Neither navy had enough craft to cover the whole river independently, so practical cooperation made both forces more effective. That routine assistance challenges the idea that the United States was wholly isolated after declining to join the League of Nations. It also connects with British confidence in the American relationship when abandoning the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and with longer private links such as the Pilgrims Society. The larger interpretation is a gradual handover from a British-led system to an Anglo-American one, avoiding the war and severe dislocation that often accompany a change between great powers. The return to Panay treats the claimed confusion of American and Chinese flags as possible but difficult to accept.
Notable Point · 27:40-34:32
Anglo-American cooperation on the Yangtze Patrol
Reciprocal river-patrol support helped build the interwar Anglo-American naval relationship and foreshadowed a gradual transfer of leadership within the international system.