Whitehead Torpedo model Homage to the Pola Submarine School, circa 1940

Whitehead torpedo model made as a "Homage from the Pola Submarine School", to be given to relevant people and military authorities of the time visiting the School.

The base and supports of the torpedo, which faithfully reproduce in scale the "bases" designed to support it, are made of Bakelite while the torpedo, which can be removed from the base, is meticulously produced in bronze so much so that even the 2 small propellers rotate independently of each other.

History of the Pula Submarine School:

The school was established in September 1940 in Pola, in the first months after Italy's entry into the Second World War, to meet the training needs of the underwater component of the Royal Navy. The choice of location in the Istrian city occurred due to its distance from the central theater of the war at sea. The School was assigned a complex taken over by the Royal Air Force and suitably adapted, capable of hosting hundreds of people including staff and students and consisting of several buildings where there was accommodation, services, teaching facilities and workshops. Lieutenant Commander Folco Buonamici was assigned to command the school. The School was assigned eight submarines, which constituted GRUPSOM 12, and a pair of support/target ships.

In February 1942 the School was reorganized into an educational section in Pola and a tactical section in the city of Fiume, where launch activities were carried out given the presence of a torpedo factory in the Kvarner city. In the first three years of life in the School, the courses were attended by around 700 officers and over 5000 soldiers of all ranks.

After the armistice of Cassibile and the Badoglio proclamation of 8 September 1943, the School was moved initially to Brindisi and subsequently to Taranto where the Submarine Command was reconstituted, resuming activities in December 1943. With the entry into force on 15 September 1947, of the peace treaty which imposed the ban on owning submarines, the School and the Submarine Command temporarily ceased to exist and the Submarine Command was replaced by MARISTRALSOM which fulfilled the task of ensuring the sinking or delivery of the boats to other navies survivors of the conflict.