Prima di Pola. Un inedito progetto italiano di architettura navale del 1915 per un mezzo d'assalto di superfice

The paper deals with the discovery of an unpublished project by means of a surface assault boat in the Archive of the Historical Office of the Italian Navy. Made in January 1915, the project predates Italy’s entry into the First World War and testifies to the early interest of the Royal Italian Navy for unconventional naval assault operations which in 1918 led to the forcing of the Austro-Hungarian port of Pula in the Adriatic Sea. The project is examined in detail and compared with contemporary projects for other and more well-known types of surface assault boats, in particular with those of anti-submarine motorboats (MAS) wanted by the chief of staff of the Italian Navy of the time, the vice admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel. In parallel, the project is also considered as a fundamental anticipation of what was subsequently achieved from 1939 onwards with the surface and underwater assault boats always used by the Italian Navy during the Second World War in the Mediterranean and in the Black Sea.