Athenia: Is this the wreck of the first British ship torpedo

[Administrator]

The remains of the first British ship to be sunk in WW2 appear to have been identified on the Atlantic seabed.

Shipwreck-hunter David Mearns says sonar data shows the transatlantic passenger liner Athenia to be lying 200m down on Rockall Bank, off Ireland.
A German submarine torpedoed the ship hours after Britain declared war on Hitler in 1939 - more than 100 people, including many Americans, were killed.
Germany initially denied involvement fearing the US would join the war.

U-boat commander, Fritz Julius Lemp, had mistaken the liner for an armed cruiser and the German naval authorities tried to cover up the sub's actions.
They even attempted to blame the sinking on Winston Churchill, who on that very day - 3 September, 1939 - was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty.
The Germans said he had ordered a British submarine to fire on the Athenia as part of a plot to force Washington's hand. The full truth only emerged at the Nuremberg Trials.

LINK

[Administrator]

The first British ship to be sunk during the Second World War is believed to have been found on the sea bed off the coast of Ireland.
The transatlantic liner SS Athenia was torpedoed only hours after Britain declared war on Germany, bringing what are believed to be have been the country’s first casualties of the conflict.

Mapping of the sea bed is thought to have found the remains of the 13,400 ton vessel which was lost with more than 110 crew and passengers.

LINK

[Administrator]

Resting place of Hitler's first naval victims is discovered:

Passenger liner torpedoed off of Ireland after German submarine captain mistook it for a warship is found by shipwreck-hunter.

LINK

[Administrator]

This is probably the very first ship sunk in World War 2 - the first of 3,500 merchant ships sent to the bottom of the Atlantic.
Helping to provide the most comprehensive map of the waters for Irish Government and European Union, leading shipwreck hunter David Mearns is "98 per cent" convinced the remains of a large ship located 650ft down around 50 miles south of Rockall belong to the Athenia, torpedoed within 12 hours of war between Britain and Germany breaking out.

LINK