ATHENIA TORPEDOED BY GERMAN SUBMARINE
London (JFK+50) On September 3, 1939, the British passenger liner Athenia* was torpedoed by a German submarine. This marked the first ship of the United Kingdom to be sunk by the Germans in World War II.
The first shots of the Battle of the Atlantic were ordered by Fritz Julius Lemp, commander of a U-30 submarine. The attack came as the 13.580 ton ship sailed off the northwest coast of Ireland bound for Canada with 1100 passengers. The German commander reported that the vessel was zig-zagging at high speed. Twenty-eight of the 311 Americans on board perished.
*SS Athenia was a steam turbine transatlantic passenger liner built in Glasgow in 1923. The ship sank 14 hours after being struck by the German torpedo.
London (JFK+50) On September 3, 1939, the British passenger liner Athenia* was torpedoed by a German submarine. This marked the first ship of the United Kingdom to be sunk by the Germans in World War II.
The first shots of the Battle of the Atlantic were ordered by Fritz Julius Lemp, commander of a U-30 submarine. The attack came as the 13.580 ton ship sailed off the northwest coast of Ireland bound for Canada with 1100 passengers. The German commander reported that the vessel was zig-zagging at high speed. Twenty-eight of the 311 Americans on board perished.
*SS Athenia was a steam turbine transatlantic passenger liner built in Glasgow in 1923. The ship sank 14 hours after being struck by the German torpedo.
Athenia
Summer 1937
