The SS Athos was a French cargo-passenger ship of the Messageries Maritimes. Construction of the ship started on July 25, 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, a passenger ship.
She was launched in 1915. Her first voyage was to China, leaving on November 28, 1915. Her second was between October 29 and December 26, 1916 from Marseille to Yokohama and back. Aboard the Athos were 1,950 people, including the crew, Chinese laborers, a large continent of Senegalese soldiers and civilian passengers, including women and children.
At 12;27 on February 17, 1917, during her third voyage, Athos was torpedoed by the German submarine U-65 commanded by Hermann von Fischel, while 180 nautical miles (330 km; 210 mi) east by south of Malta. The ship sank in 14 minutes taking with her 754 people, including the captain and 11 crew members. The survivors were picked up by the escort ships Enseigne Henry and Mameluck, as well as the gunboat Moqueuse and the torpedo-boat Baliste.
