Once "U-30" docked on 27 September, Admiral Karl Dönitz met Lemp while he was disembarking from the U-boat. Dönitz later said that Lemp looked "very unhappy" and that he told the Admiral that he was in fact responsible for the sinking of "Athenia". Lemp had mistaken "Athenia" for an armed merchant cruiser, which he claimed was zig-zagging. Dönitz subsequently received orders that "Athenia" affair was to be kept a "total secret", the High Command of the Navy (OKM) were not to court-martial Lemp as they considered his actions in good faith, and that any other political explanations about the sinking of "Athenia" were to be handled by the OKM, who would deny any allegations that a German U-boat had sunk the vessel. In order to keep the sinking of "Athenia" a secret, Dönitz had "U-30"s log altered in order to erase any evidence. It was not until the Nuremberg trials in 1946 that the truth about the fate of the liner was brought forth publicly by the Germans.