Yes, the sinking of the Athenia was an unfortunate mistake, to put it mildly. To be fair though, Lemp didn't realize it was an unarmed passenger liner he had fired on. The Athenia was blacked out and apparently had been zigzagging like a combat vessel. This combined with her unusual route via Rockall Banks made Lemp mistakenly deduce she was an armed British merchant cruiser.
On that same patrol Lemp even scooped up a couple of downed British pilots his sub shot down, and had them dropped off in Iceland so they could receive medical attention.
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