Squalo was the lead ship of her class of four submarines built for the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) during the late 1920s.

[1] For surface running, the boats were powered by two 1,500-brake-horsepower (1,119 kW) diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft.

On the surface, the Squalo class had a range of 5,650 nautical miles (10,460 km; 6,500 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph), submerged, they had a range of 100 nmi (190 km; 120 mi) at 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph).

[2] The boats were armed with eight internal 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes, four each in the bow and stern.

[1] Squalo, named for the shark, was laid down on 10 October 1928 at the Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico (CRDA) shipyard at Monfalcone.