Their record can be traced back to World War I and the operation against the Austrian-Hungarian Battleship Viribus Unitis in Pula Harbour in 1918.

In World War II, famous operations include Suda Bay, Alexandria, Gibraltar, and Malta.

After World War II ended, the victors forbade Italy from maintaining special operations personnel.

The Decima Flottiglia MAS was disbanded but the training experience gathered during the war was not lost, it was preserved in units scattered across the new Marina Militare.

The Operational Divers Group (Gruppo Operativo Subacquei - GOS) specialises in scuba diving with air to 60 m, oxygen to 12 m, nitrox to 54 m, heliox to 150 m, and to 300 m with a mini-submarine or a special suit.

Senior operators may transfer to the Italian Military Intelligence Agency "AISE" along with their other counterparts from the Army, Air Force and Carabinieri.