Between the 1950s and '70s, the Italian Navy was experimenting with particular gunboats whose armament and configuration could be quickly changed. These boats would be called convertible gunboats (motoconvertibili), going from the MC-490 to the Lampo class and finally the Freccia class. The P-493 Freccia was the first boat of the Freccia class, laid down in 30 April 1963, launched 9 January 1965 and finally commissioned 6 July 1965. It was tested and used in different configurations to improve any problems for the next convertible torpedo boat of the same class, ran a few exercises with the various configurations, and was joined by the P-494 Saetta in 1966. It did not do much in service, and after the failure of the convertible torpedo boats it was disarmed in 15 September 1984, and later decommissioned on 15 February 1985.

The P-493 Freccia was added with the Operation S.U.M.M.E.R. 2020 event during Update "Starfighters". The ship has two configurations: gunboat and torpedo boat. The first configuration gives you access to three 40 mm Breda-Bofors cannons which are very useful against most targets (coastal ships and aircraft) but have limited use against heavier targets such as destroyers and cruisers, while the second configuration gives you access to two 40 mm Breda-Bofors and two 533 mm torpedo launchers which can be very useful against destroyers and cruisers.