The son of a dry goods merchant, Sciarrotta studied mechanical engineering at Alessandro Volta School of Engineering in Naples, Italy and remained in Naples working at a munitions factory during the years before World War II.

Sciarrotta came to the U.S. in 1943 to play a major role in a clandestine Office of Strategic Services (OSS) operation carried out at the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode Island.
 As an engineer whose  undersea weapons expertise was acquired in Naples, Italy under the scientist Carlo Colossi, who invented the first magnetic torpedo exploder for the Germans during World War II, Sciarrotta was a critical asset to the U.S Navy when Italy fell to the Allies.

In order to protect the secret hardware for the Allied war effort, Sciarrotta and a team of scientists and engineers were smuggled out of Italy with weapon-related hardware and tools plus two small submarines and a torpedo that Sciarrotta knew had been sunk by the Germans in Naples Harbor.
The result of  the mission in Newport at the Naval Torpedo Station was the building of the first two-man submarine as well as exploding magnetic torpedo devices.
 The submarine and original devices brought from Italy were placed in the U.S. Naval Academy Museum.
Sciarrotta led the project under the code name Robert West.

 Upon completion of the mission, Sciarrotta was offered a government position to stay on at the  Naval Torpedo Station.
Instead he decided to follow his artistic interests and develop of his craft, creating art objects of copper, brass and eventually sterling silver, applying the same precision and skill to his patented designs as to his weaponry.
He opened a shop in Newport and married his English teacher, a native Newporter named Margherita Russo, and raised three daughters.

Sciarrotta died in Newport, Rhode Island, on May 28, 1985, after a battle with lung cancer.
He was survived by three daughters, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
The son of a dry goods merchant, Sciarrotta studied mechanical engineering at Alessandro Volta School of Engineering in Naples, Italy and remained in Naples working at a munitions factory during the years before World War II.
Sciarrotta came to the U.S. in 1943 to play a major role in a clandestine Office of Strategic Services (OSS) operation carried out at the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode Island.  As an engineer whose  undersea weapons expertise was acquired in Naples, Italy under the scientist Carlo Colossi, who invented the first magnetic torpedo exploder for the Germans during World War II, Sciarrotta was a critical asset to the U.S Navy when Italy fell to the Allies.
In order to protect the secret hardware for the Allied war effort, Sciarrotta and a team of scientists and engineers were smuggled out of Italy with weapon-related hardware and tools plus two small submarines and a torpedo that Sciarrotta knew had been sunk by the Germans in Naples Harbor. The result of  the mission in Newport at the Naval Torpedo Station was the building of the first two-man submarine as well as exploding magnetic torpedo devices.  The submarine and original devices brought from Italy were placed in the U.S. Naval Academy Museum. Sciarrotta led the project under the code name Robert West.
 Upon completion of the mission, Sciarrotta was offered a government position to stay on at the  Naval Torpedo Station. Instead he decided to follow his artistic interests and develop of his craft, creating art objects of copper, brass and eventually sterling silver, applying the same precision and skill to his patented designs as to his weaponry. He opened a shop in Newport and married his English teacher, a native Newporter named Margherita Russo, and raised three daughters.
Sciarrotta died in Newport, Rhode Island, on May 28, 1985, after a battle with lung cancer. He was survived by three daughters, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
Alfredo Sciarrotta