She participated in World War II, first on the side of the Allies from 1939 to June 1940, then in the navy of Vichy France until November 1942.

Propelled on the surface by two diesel engines producing a combined 6,000 horsepower (4,474 kW), they had a maximum speed of 18.6 knots (34.4 km/h; 21.4 mph).

Archimède was laid down at Chantiers Navals Français at Blainville-sur-Orne in Caen, France, on 1 August 1927 with the hull number Q142.

[2] While she was at Cherbourg, her sister ship Prométhée sank while making her first dive during her own trials on 7 July 1932 in the English Channel off Cape Lévi near Fermanville, France.

[3] An engineer from the Schneider-Creusot company and officers from the commission of inquiry investigating the loss of Prométhée boarded Archimède on 10 July 1932[3] and conducted tests aboard Archimède based on statements Prométhée′s commanding officer and other survivors made in an attempt to ascertain the reasons Prométhée sank.

She was assigned to the 4th Submarine Division at Brest, France, and operated in the North Sea, English Channel, and Atlantic Ocean.

[2] On 3 February 1939, when Archimède still was assigned to the 6th Submarine Division along with her sister ships Ajax, Persée, and Poncelet, she completed a minor refit.

[2][3] At the start of World War II in September 1939, Archimède still was assigned to the 6th Submarine Division based at Brest.

[2] While she was performing diesel engine tests on 14 February 1940, fishing boats in her vicinity ignored an order excluding them from her trials area, and as a result she collided with the French 8-gross register ton fishing sloop Alize or Alizee (according to different sources), which sank off Brest with the loss of her entire crew of five.

[2] At 05:15 on 3 April 1940, Convoy OA-122 – consisting of the cargo ships Beatus, Cornish City, Humber Arm, and King Neptune, escorted by Archimède, Ajax, and the British Royal Navy destroyers HMS Antelope and HMS Vanessa — got underway from Portsmouth bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, which it reached on 17 April 1940.

[2] On 25 April 1940, Archimède received orders to escort Convoy HX-39 from Halifax to the United Kingdom along with the Royal Navy auxiliary cruiser HMS Voltaire.

[2][3][9] From 19 to 24 June 1940, she patrolled off Cannes and Nice to protect the French Mediterranean coast against an Italian amphibious landing.

When the attack on Mers-el-Kébir — in which a British Royal Navy squadron attacked a French Navy squadron moored at the naval base at Mers El Kébir in Oran on the coast of Algeria — took place on 3 July 1940, she was a part of Group A at Toulon along with her sister ships L'Espoir and Le Conquérant.

[10] The three submarines received orders that day to form a patrol line on the night of 6–7 July 1940 in the Mediterranean Sea to attack any British ships they encountered and protect Oran, the line to extend from north to south for a distance of 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) east of Alboran Island and south of Cape Palos.

[2][10] Archimède underwent a minor refit at Toulon from 23 August to 28 September 1940, then was maintained in a disarmed and unfueled state in accordance with the terms of the June 1940 armistice.

[2] Archimède got underway from Casablanca on 26 December 1940 in company with the submarine Aurore and two torpedo boats headed for Dakar, Senegal.

In mid-June 1942, she received orders to move to French Morocco, and in preparation for that deployment she subsequently put to sea on numerous occasions for post-overhaul trials.

[2][3] In mid-September 1942, Archimède received orders to deploy to Saigon in French Indochina to relieve her sister ship Pégase there.

[2][3] Archimède was at Dakar when Allied forces landed in French North Africa in Operation Torch on 8 November 1942.

[2][3] While the landings took place to the north in Algeria and French Morocco, Archimède patrolled off Dakar to protect the harbor from invasion.

A significant effort went into improving her soundproofing,[11] and radars, more efficient listening gear, a sonar, a new pitometer log, a new bathythermograph,[14] air conditioning, and a refrigerator were installed aboard her.

[2] She departed New London on 19 February 1944 to return to war service in the Mediterranean Sea,[2][3][15] and after a stop at Dakar she arrived at Casablanca on 7 March 1944.

[2][3] After pausing at Oran for repairs, she got back underway, bound for Algiers escorted by the Free French Flower-class corvette Commandant Détroyat.

[2] On 12 May 1944, three British aircraft mistook her for a German U-boat and attacked her, but she avoided damage by diving to a depth of 40 metres (131 ft).

[2] On 8 May 1945 – the day Germany surrendered —— she departed Casablanca and, after calling at Dakar from 13 to 17 May, proceeded to the sound school at Freetown in Sierra Leone, where she arrived on 19 May 1945.

[2] Operating from Brest, Archimède and Le Glorieux carried out extensive training and participated in numerous exercises during 1948.