NEW ITALIAN SCIENTIFIC MIDGET SUBMARINE.—Pietro Vassena, 50-year-old Italian inventor, who will shortly carry out tests at Lake Como with the midget two-man treasure-seeking and grappling submarine which he has designed, is seen here in the conning tower of his submarine. The craft, 25 feet long and 4ft 6in wide, can descend to a depth of 2400 feet and remain submerged for 20 hours. On the surface it is powered by a 40-50 h.p. car engine and. when submerged, by an electric 20 h.p. motor which gives it a submerged speed of 16 m.p.h. The batteries are mounted outside the craft. The submarine is equipped with five moveable searchlights, giant pincers in the bow, and two mechanically articulated hands in the stern, capable of clutching small objects.

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 February 1948, Page 5

NEW ITALIAN SCIENTIFIC MIDG ET SUBMARINE.— Pietro Vassena, 50-year-old Italian inventor, who will shortly carry out tests at Lake Como with the midget two-man treasure-seeking and grappling submarine which he has designed, is seen here in the conning tower of his submarine. The craft, 25 feet long and 4ft 6in wide, can descend to a depth of 2400 feet and remain submerged for 20 hours. On the surface it is powered by a 40-50 h.p. car engine and. when submerged, by an electric 20 h.p. motor which gives it a submerged speed of 16 m.p.h. The batteries are mounted outside the craft. The submarine is equipped with five moveable searchlights, giant pincers in the bow, and two mechanically articulated hands in the stern, capable of clutching small objects.