All of her fighting service was in the Mediterranean, taking part in the invasion of Pantelleria and landings in the south of France, returning briefly to the Pacific in 1945.

In February 1942 after a successful Warship Week National Savings campaign, Aphis was adopted by the civil communities of Warminster and Westbury in Wiltshire.

Based at Malta, nearer to the landings on the Italian islands and mainland Europe, she provided artillery support for the attack on Pantelleria in June (deployed with headquarters ship Largs and destroyers Petard and Paladin.

She was deployed with her sister Scarab and monitors Erebus, Roberts and Abercrombie, to bombard enemy positions on the coast between Reggio Calabria and Pessaro before the Operation Baytown landings by the British XIII Corps.

The group was to mis-direct German resources by simulating large Allied landings and in mid-August they carried out bombardments between Antibes and the Var river.

[1] In mid-August 1944, Aphis resumed duty with the Mediterranean Fleet and in September she was deployed in the Adriatic to support of Army operations, based at Ancona.