After its Royal Navy escort leaves Tsingtao, Japanese forces sink the SS Saint Vincent de Paul. HMS Birmingham then seizes a Japanese ship, survives an air attack, and brings its prize into Shanghai before limping toward Singapore. The Royal Navy retaliates by sinking Akagi, one of the few carriers available to Japan at this date. These linked actions turn an incident around neutral shipping into an open naval war centered on China and the South China Sea.
Notable Point · 4:33-5:35
The escalation from Tsingtao to a wider war
The sinking of the SS Saint Vincent de Paul, HMS Birmingham's retaliation, and the loss of Akagi turn a local Tsingtao crisis into a South China Sea war.