The history of the Italian submarines began in 1889 when the construction of the Delfino submarine began under the direction of marine engineer Giacinto Pullino in the La Spezia naval arsenal . It was a 23 meter long and three meter wide submarine that displaced almost 100 tons over water. Initially, it was only powered by an electric motor. Due to numerous experiments and reconstructions, the boat could not be put into service until 1896. From 1902 to 1904 a major renovation took place, during which, among other things, a gasoline engine and, in addition to the torpedo tubes at the bow, one at the stern was installed.
The Delfino , which was actually built for experimental purposes , ultimately turned out to be a very successful construction, on the basis of which the naval engineer Cesare Laurenti then built further submarines for the Italian Navy from 1904 in Venice .
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