Italian submarine Axum was an built in the 1930s, serving in the Regia Marina during World War II. She was named after an ancient city of Axum in Ethiopia. Design and description The Adua-class submarines were essentially repeats of the preceding . They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a beam of and a draft of . For surface running, the boats were powered by two diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the Adua class had a range of at , submerged, they had a range of at . The boats were armed with six internal torpedo tubes, four in the bow and two in the stern. They were also armed with one deck gun for combat on the surface. The light anti-aircraft armament consisted of one or two pairs of machine guns. Construction and career Axum was built at the CRDA shipyard, in Monfalcone. She was laid down on 8 February 1936, launched on 27 September of the same year, and commissioned on 2 December 1936. On March 20, 1937 after a brief training, she was assigned to 23rd Submarine Squadron in Naples. Between August 27 and September 5, 1937 she performed a secret mission on behalf of the Spanish Nationalists in the Strait of Sicily but did not detect any targets. Between 1937 and 1940 the submarine underwent intensive training out of her base in Naples. In 1940 Axum was assigned to 71st Squadron (VII Submarine Group) in Cagliari, but her operational base continued to be Naples. After Italy's entrance into World War II she was mainly operating in the western Mediterranean. In June 1940 she was deployed south of Sardinia. On 4–5 July 1940 Axum patrolled of the coast of northern Algeria. On 9–11 July 1940 she was relocated to patrol off the island of La Galite, then moved southwest of the island of Sant'Antioco. In the afternoon of November 9, 1940 Axum left Cagliari and was sent to patrol off the island of La Galite along with four other submarines (including Alagi and Aradam) as a screen to the British Operation "Coat". Later the same day, shortly after 19:00, she detected engine noises but the distance was far too great to attempt an attack. On November 12, 1940, she again detected