Designed in the 1980s as "hunter killers" to contrast the underwater threat of the Soviet bloc, the Sauro-Class conventional submarines have undergone significant upgrades and technical-operational improvements both in their project phase and during their service life to meet the operational commitments of the new millennium.

In the late 1990s, the upgrade of the Sauro-Class III Series submarines involved replacing the passive sensors, the C3 system, navigation and weapons control systems boosting their capability of performing a wide range of operations.

Submarine Pelosi is the first boat named after the famous hero of sea depths and WWII Gold Medal, Salvatore Pelosi. On June 23, 1940, in command of submarine Torricelli on patrol in the Red Sea, Lieutenant Commander Pelosi was forced to submerge and to face a Royal Navy battle group consisting of three destroyers and two gunboats. In the uneven fight, submarine Torricelli sunk destroyer HMS Khartoum and damaged the gunboat HMS Shorean. During the battle Lt. Pelosi was wounded and his boat damaged. Salvatore Pelosi and his crew's deeds impressed the British enemy and aboard HMS Kandahar he was received with military honor.

The launching ceremony was sponsored by Mrs. Giuseppina Pelosi Regina; the Battle Flag was offered by Messina-based Italian Naval Association (A.N.M.I.) and consigned on May 25, 1990 in Taranto.

Submarine Pelosi was the first boat to sail across the Suez Channel after WWII, during the Campaign in Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf from January to April 2007.


The Crest
In the central part of the insignia, the embossed silhouette of Submarine Pelosi stands out as a bulwark in defense of Italy, depicted in the background. Astern of the boat is the effigy of the WWII heroic Commander Salvatore Pelosi, Gold Medal of Military Valor. On the top, the towered crown with rostra and anchors symbolizes  the naval honors conferred to victorious naval commanders in the imperial Rome. Inscribed between two five-point stars, the boat's name and the optical badge: SSK (Submarine-Submarine Killer) 522. The hull classification SSK is the symbol of a conventional submarine. The whole central section of the Crest is surrounded by a cable-laid rope. In the lower part, the scroll features the boat's motto: "In silentio et spe" (In silence and hope), which was already borne by submarine Torricelli commanded by Lieutenant Commander Salvatore Pelosi. The quotation is from the prophet Isaiah meaning that calm and perseverance foster strength.