problems, fix her boiler feedwater pumps, and replace her funnels. After completing her repairs in January 1940, she was transferred to Freetown, joining the 20th Destroyer Flotilla, to escort convoys off the West African coast. Decoy returned to the Mediterranean Fleet in May and was assigned to the 10th Destroyer Flotilla. Together with her sister , she escorted Convoy US-2 carrying Australian and New Zealand troops to the Middle East through the Red Sea from 12 to 17 May. The ship and three other destroyers, escorted the and three British cruisers as they bombarded Bardia during the night of 20/21 June. On 27 June 1940, Decoy participated in the sinking of the . Together with her sisters and Defender, the destroyer , and the Australian destroyer , the ship depth charged Console Generale Liuzzi, which was then scuttled by her own crew south-east off Crete. On 29 June 1940 Decoy participated, together with the same squadron, in the sinking of the . The squadron patrolled the area between Alexandria, the Aegean Sea and the central Mediterranean from 27 to 30 June 1940 as part of Operation MA3 in support of British convoys from the Greek ports to Port Said and from Alexandria to Malta. Argonauta was probably sunk near Cape Ras el Hilal, Libya, at around 0615 hours by the British destroyers; though it is also possible the Argonauta was depth charged and sunk around 1450 hours that same day by Short Sunderland L5804 of the RAF. The Historical Bureau of the Italian Navy believes the first theory to be more believable, but doubt still persists. On 9 July 1940, she took part of the Battle of Calabria, where she was hit by splinters from a near-miss from the . While returning from Operation Hats, Decoy, Ilex and the light cruisers and bombarded Scarpanto during the night of 3/4 September. On 6 November, Decoy, together with the destroyers Defender, , , , , , Ilex, , , , and screened the capital ships of the Mediterranean Fleet, which provided distant cover for the passage of Convoy MW3 from Egypt to Malta and Convoy ME3 from Malta as part of Operation MB8. While in Alexandria, the ship was struck by a bomb that penetrated completely through the ship on 13 November. After temporary repairs were made, she was sent to Malta for permanent repairs which lasted until 1 February 1941, after