Leonardo da Vinci designed a diving suit with a breathing tube and other underwater equipment.
His sketches from the early 16th century show a diver wearing a suit connected to the surface by tubes. The design also included a mask-like face covering and a system intended to manage air and water. Leonardo imagined the equipment for underwater work, including possible military operations against enemy ships.
The suit was not a modern scuba system. It depended on air supplied from the surface and lacked the compact compressed-air cylinders, regulators, and reliable seals used by contemporary divers. Leonardo’s notes also show concern about how a diver could urinate underwater, an unusually practical detail in the design.
The concept is often linked to the history of diving suits, but there is no reliable evidence that Leonardo tested it or used it in combat.