He volunteered for the navy in January 1934 and was assigned to the diving division, attending the Scuola C.R.E.M. at Varignano near La Spezia. At the end of the course he was assigned to the naval command at Gaeta. He then joined the destroyer "Freccia" and in 1936 the submarine "H6", attended the first diving course and took part in the first experiments in exiting a submerged submarine. At the end of the course he took part in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and the Spanish Civil War. In 1938 he took part in the Corso per Alti Fondali in deep-sea diving and on 4 June 1940 he joined the "Titano" and the 1ª Flottiglia MAS as an assault-submarine operator, taking part in missions with the MAS.