Interesting article about the sinking of the Athenia World War 2: Number of dead in Athenia unknown - Telegraph
The incident was also reported in the Sept. 11th, 1939 Time magazine in America as Atrocity # 1: Atrocity No. 1 of World War II came just ten hours after Great Britain entered her state of War with Germany.* In the House of Commons, Winston Churchill celebrated his return as First Lord of the Admiralty with a speech in which he said: "It [the Athenia] was certainly torpedoed without the slightest warning and in circumstances which the opinion of the world after the late War—in which Germany concurred—had stigmatized as inhumane. . . .The ship was not armed as an auxiliary cruiser." Berlin officials announced: "All German naval forces have the strictest instructions to act in accordance with the rules established by international law." They suggested the Athenia might have run into a British mine. To this the British Admiralty retorted there were no British mines 200 miles west of Ireland. Retorted Berlin: "It is likely that a British submarine fired the torpedo as a propaganda measure to influence United States neutrality." See: World War: Atrocity No. I - TIME I thought the Berlin response quite predictable as well.
The Germans feared it would be considered as a second Lusitania. It would be a nice "what if" subject as it might possibly have thrown the U.S. in the war as early as 1939.
I really don't know much about this event. The following is taken from Wiki, so be forwarned. This article does indicate some potential questions surrounding the incident. Seems little doubt it was a u-boat torpedo but some doubt is cast on the why. Indeed Americans were killed as well. Somewhere else I read a quote from Roosevelt that this would not draw the US into war and he further asserted US neutrality.
While that is a possibility, the Lusitania was sunk early on in the war years, and ignored as "la raison d’être" for war being declared by the US. Since it was on May 7th, 1915 that the Cunard Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Lusitania was sunk by the U-Boat with heavy loss of life (1,198) including 139 Americans, and it was TWENTY THREE MONTHS later; April 6th of 1917, when the United States finally declares war on Germany. There were more important events after her sinking, although the Lusitania’s loss was one of the "straws on the camel’s back", she didn't break it. She was sunk while Germany was using "unrestricted" U-boat attacks, her demise and two other passenger ships being sunk by U-boats caused such an outrage globally that Germany dropped that policy for the year between early 1916 and when unrestricted U-boat war was re-announced in Jan. of 1917. I wouldn’t doubt that the Germans under Hitler’s gang were worried that the "unrestricted submarine warfare" re-emerging would influence the American neutrality stance just as it did in 1917. While they observed the "crusier rules" we remained neutral, going back to unrestricted coupled with the Zimmermann note did the deed in our declaration of war then. This wish not to be coupled with the Lusitania might have also figured into the Kriegsmarine’s diligence in originally NOT targeting American flagged shipping, or warships (much to the dismay of the Kriegsmarine). There was another hiatus of about thirty months between the invasion of Poland and Germany declaring war on the US (reversed this time). So Hitler and his Nazis managed to keep we Americans out for quite a while didn't they.
It was war. British public moved on to other matters at the time with barely the blink of an eye. The scene had been set for the war at sea. Brits knew this was not to be a phoney war at sea. No conspiracy just a tragedy of war.
