Athenia 1923-1939

Seventy five years ago this month, the Donaldson Line passenger liner SS Athenia became the first British ship to be sunk by a German U-boat in World War II.  The 13,465 gross ton liner sailed from Glasgow bound Montreal.  On September 3, 1939, only hours after Great Britain had declared war on Germany, the German submarine U-30 under the command of Oberleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp, on patrol about 250 miles northwest of Ireland, about 60 miles south of Rockall banks, torpedoed SS Athenia.  Of the 1,418 aboard, 98 passengers and 19 crew members were killed.  Of the dead, 54 were Canadian while 28 were American citizens.

Tragically, more passengers and crew died in attempt at rescue than died due to the torpedo attack. The Norwegian ship Knute Nelson rescued 449 survivors but accidentally crushed one lifeboat with 53 aboard  with its propeller. Only 8 of those in the lifeboat survived. Another 10 died when a lifeboat capsized under the stern of the yacht Southern Cross. Three more passengers were crushed to death while attempting to transfer from lifeboats to the RN destroyers.

Torpedoing a passenger was a violation of international law.  Oberleutnant Lemp claimed that he thought the ship was a troop transport because it was running blacked out. Plywood panels had been used to cover SS Athenia’s ports as camouflage.  Fearful that the death of Americans would help draw the US into the war, the German government denied responsibility.  There suggestions that the liner had hit an English mine. Only after the war was it officially confirmed that a German torpedo had sunk the ship.

Athenia 1904-1917

SS Athenia was built in 1923 to replace a previous Donaldson Line ship of the same name.  SS Athenia built in 1904 was also sunk by a German U-boat in 1917 in the unrestricted submarine warfare of World War I.  The first SS Athenia, at 7835 gross tons, was the first Donaldson Line passenger ship, carrying 50 first and 450 third class passengers.

The Donaldson Line would never again name a ship, Athenia.  The line continued passenger service until 1966 and finally ceased operation in 1967 with the sale of its remaining cargo ships.

Thanks to Victor Lee Graham Fox, whose grandfather was a passenger on SS Athenia‘s maiden voyage, for contributing to this post.