Name SS Athos Laid down 25 July 1914 Type Cargo-passenger ship Construction started 25 July 1914 | Namesake Athos In service 28 November 1915 Length 162 m | |
Fate Torpedoed and sunk, 17 February 1917 Builder | ||
Ss athos centenary 1917 2017
SS Athos was a French cargo-passenger ship of the Messageries Maritimes, launched in 1915, that was sunk in the Mediterranean by the German submarine 'SM U-65 during World War I.
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Ship history
Construction of the ship started on 25 July 1914 in Dunkirk, but was halted when the city was bombed during the First Battle of Ypres. The ship was towed to Saint Nazaire, where it was completed as a troopship and not, as intended, as a passenger ship. Displacing 12,644 tonnes (12,444 long tons), the ship was 156.48 metres (513 ft 5 in) long, with a beam of 18.84 metres (61 ft 10 in). Her top speed was 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph).The ship had 1298 passengers on board.
Her first voyage was to China, leaving on 28 November 1915. Her second was between 29 October and 26 December 1916 from Marseille to Yokohama and back.
At 12.27 on 17 February 1917, during her third voyage, Athos was torpedoed by the German submarine SM U-65 commanded by Hermann von Fischel, while 180 nautical miles (330 km; 210 mi) east by south of Malta. Aboard Athos were 1,950 people, including the crew, Chinese labourers, a large continent of Senegalese soldiers, and civilian passengers, including women and children. The ship sank in 14 minutes taking with her 754 people, including the captain and 11 crewmembers. The survivors were picked up by the escort ships Enseigne Henry and Mameluck, as well as the gunboat Moqueuse and the torpedo-boat Baliste.