World War 2 began in September of 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. Italy joined in June of 1940 on the side of the Axis and set its army, air force and navy to work in the hopes of recapturing the glory of its former Roman Empire - with a destiny to control the vital shipping lanes of the Mediterranean with colonies across Africa. The Archimede was trusted to the Red Sea Flotilla which was stationed off of the Italian-controlled coast of East Africa and made her homeport from Massawa (present-day Eritrea). The Red Sea remained important to European interests and British and Commonwealth forces fought a hard campaign to take strategic control of East Africa in time. With the eventual fall of its homeport, the Archimede and crew relocated to Axis-held Bordeaux along the western French coast, arriving there on May 7th, 1941. She undertook her patrol duties once more and eventually claimed the Panamanian freighter "Cardina" on June 15th, 1942 off the Brazilian coast during her tenth war patrol. A patrol beginning on June 19th experienced serious technical issues with the onboard air conditioners which poisoned the crew, killing four. This forced the Archimede into dock for necessary repairs which lasted until September. On October 8th, 1942, this part of her eleventh war patrol, she lay claim to the converted ocean-liner-turned-British-troop-transport SS Oronsay off the coast of Liberia, killing six crew. Most of the surviving crew were safely recovered by the HMS Brilliant within two weeks though the rest fell to arriving Vichy French forces and taken prisoner.
It was on her twelfth and final war patrol that the Archimede would meet her untimely end. Tracked by Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat aircraft of the United States Navy, the Archimede was subsequently attacked on April 15th, 1943 and suffered catastrophic damage - proving a complete loss. One Italian sailor managed to survive the ordeal and spent the next 29 days on a raft before being spotted and rescued. In her short war time career, the Archimede managed to sink 25,629 tons of Allied war goods - though 20,000 of this total were from the SS Oronsay sinking alone.
Due to mounting losses and internal upheaval at home, the Italians eventually surrendered to the Allies in September of 1943 and went on to declare war on former allies Germany and Japan. Around 500,000 Italians died during World War 2 while its colonial aspirations were defeated and the Italian monarchy abolished. Dictator Benito Mussolini was captured and killed, his body publically mutilated and put on display. Additionally, millions of dollars were spent in reparations to several nations though none of her leaders were ever put through war crimes trials.
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