 In 1909 was promoted to captain and in 1911 went to Libya during the Italo-Turkish War with the cruiser "Pisa".During the first years of World War I worked as Director of the Navy Arsenal in La Spezia and was promoted to major.While working there he started to create a new weapon, based on his idea of a torpedo manned by a person, to be linked to enemy vessels underwater and explode under the ship hull.