Galileo Ferraris was one of four Archimede-class submarines built for the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) during the early 1930s.

They had an operational diving depth of 90 meters (300 ft)[1] Their crew numbered 55 officers and enlisted men.

They were also armed with a pair of 100 mm (3.9 in) deck guns, one each fore and aft of the conning tower, for combat on the surface.

[2] On 9 February 1937, the boat hit and sank the 1,693-gross register ton (GRT) mail steamer SS Navarra off Tarragona with two torpedoes.

On 15 August she sank the 4,602 GRT cargo ship SS Ciudad de Cádiz off Tenedos in the Eastern Mediterranean with a pair of torpedoes and 12 shells.