The first unit to bear this name was for many years the fastest unit of her times (1861).

In 1866, during the Third Independence War, was deployed to the Adriatic Sea as vedette where she performed brilliantly. From late 1879, ITS Esploratore was deployed in the Red Sea to carry out scientific surveys and navigate the local seas with the Italian flag. In 1880, she was repatriated and based in Naples as Flagship of the II Dept.; in February 1882 command ship of the Tunisian naval station for about two months; she then returned to Italy, resuming her role as Flagship of the II Dept. until 1884, when she was deployed to Gaeta with health surveillance tasks over the ships heading to Sicily. From 1885 she was again deployed in the Red Sea and finally in Venice, until 1995; when she was condemned and broken up.

The current ITS Esploratore is the first of four units of her class. She was launched on November 4, 1996, at the Cantieri Navali “Istria” of Cadimare (SP); commissioned on July 14, 1997, and readily employed in the Italian-led Multinational Protection Force “Alba II” in Albania. From April 4 to 14, 1998, ITS Esploratore was based in Durazzo, Albania. On November 7, 1998, the Gruppo Isola di Capri dell’Associazione Nazionale Marinai d’Italia gave her the Combat Flag and, the following November 14, she set sail to Sinai, in the Red Sea.

The unit has been specifically designed to meet the operations requirements of the Multinational Force and Observers (M.F.O.) peace mission in Sinai and arrived at Sharm el-Sheikh on November 27, the same year. From December 1998 -when she hoisted the M.F.O. flag, taking over ITS Mogano - to this day, she has been employed by the Italian Coastal Naval Group Ten in the Red Sea, to guarantee freedom of navigation in the Straits of Tiran and contributing to the safeguard of human life at sea and protection of the marine environment.

This new generation vessel features: lighter displacement, improved performances in terms of speed, range, and a complement reduced by 40% compared to the former “Alberi” class (16 crew).

The Crest represents the silhouette of the Unit with the rising sun in the background, surrounded by flames, and the mythical Phoenix bird in the foreground taken from an image of the bird carved on the tomb of an Egyptian Pharaoh (XIX-XX dynasty).

The motto on the unit: “VINDEX POST FATA RESURGO” (Avenger After Death I Rise Up Again) indicates the will to live, the idea of resurrection and immortality, of life that triumphs over death, as it is for the legendary Phoenix. This bird is present in many ancient divinations - Egypt, Greece, China – and in Christianity, where, according to the legend, he dies every night at sunset only to resurrect from his own ashes.