Upon entering the service, in December of 1938 she was assigned to
Leros as part of the V Submarine Group. Later re-assigned to
Tobruk as part of the 62 Squadron (VI Submarine group) under command of Piero Riccomini. After the declaration of war on June 10, 1940,
Lafolè along with other submarines from the 62 Squadron was posted to
Sollum to protect the harbors of
Cyrenaica from a possible British attack. Later on she was sent off to
Tobruk on an offensive mission. On June 20, 1940, she returned to the base without any sightings. On July 3, 1940,
Lafolè along with other submarines patrolled along the
Gaudo–
Derna line. On July 7–8, 1940, she detected ongoing large anti-submarine activity, but could not locate the enemy units. On July 14, 1940, she returned to the base, again without sighting any enemy units. During September of 1940, she was involved in defensive missions in the
Gulf of Taranto. On October 8, 1940,
Lafolè left
Taranto for her new area of operation east of
Gibraltar along the coast of
Morocco. On October 15, 1940, she arrived in her designated patrol area, southeast of the island of
Alboran and north of
Cape Three Forks, close to
Melilla. On October 20, 1940, at approximately 11:00
Lafolè sighted 2 British destroyers, and , 12 miles north of
Cape Three Forks. Enemy ships were moving slowly, conducting what looked like a submarine search, and apparently unaware of
Lafolè's presence. Captain Riccomini closed in to within 500 meters and fired one aft torpedo at the target. Captain Riccomini, of course, couldn't possibly know that the British were fully aware of his submarine's presence. Two days earlier, was sunk not far from
Lafolès location. Among the documents captured from were coordinates of
Lafolè. The British immediately sent out a search group composed of six destroyers (, , , and 2 others) to hunt for the submarine. While
Lafolè was closing in on two "unsuspecting" British destroyers, a third one, , was rapidly approaching the submarine from her back, and thus closing the trap on unsuspecting boat. Once captain Riccomini fired his torpedoes, all three ships immediately counterattacked with depth charges. The first barrage damaged electric motors and pumps, bent the propeller shafts and caused flooding.
Lafolè could no longer maintain the depth, and started continuously surfacing and submerging, yet the crew managed to keep her down for the next seven hours. At 18:30
Lafolè has surfaced one last time, and going full force rammed the submarine. The collision was so violent, that it threw out several men out of submarine. Second in command Giuseppe Accardi, and 8 more men were the only survivors, captain Riccomini, 3 officers and 35 other men all went down with the submarine.
Lafolè sank in the position . also suffered serious damage in the collision, and had to go back to
Gibraltar for repairs. It only returned to action on February 20, 1941. Captain Riccomini was posthumously awarded
Silver Medal of Military Valor for his bravery and leadership in combating superior enemy forces. == Notes==