The class comprised Atjeh, Tromp, Koningin Emma der Nederlanden, De Ruyter, Van Speyk and Johan Willem Friso.

In the 1860s the Netherlands had given priority to building an armored fleet for coastal defense in Europe.

In late 1870 the minister for the navy ordered the first ship meant to replace these,[3] the ironclad Koning der Nederlanden.

Later, the armored part would be supplemented by the ironclad Prins Hendrik der Nederlanden, which would be sent to the Indies in 1876.

In December 1882 the minister of the navy dismissed the term 'cruiser' for the Atjeh class, and stated that he was replacing the old screw corvettes.

Furthermore, that the design fit the requirements for the defense of the Dutch East Indies.

He stated that the Atjeh class was only suitable for cruiser tasks, not for defending the colonies.

[5] The first requirements for the ship were determined by Minister for the Navy, Taalman Kip, who had been appointed in May 1874.

[7] This ship would have been considerably longer and narrower, and somewhat bigger than the preceding Zilveren Kruis-class corvettes.

However, while judging this design, it was noted that the boilers were too high above the normal load line.

This would make the ship extremely vulnerable, because it primarily depended on its engines for propulsion.

Therefore a new requirement was added, demanding that the steam engines and boilers should be below the empty load line, and be protected by the coal bunkers.

[7] The requirement to place the steam engines of the new unprotected cruisers below the load line necessitated the design of a substantially bigger ship.

Meanwhile, the bridge, fore- and aft castle of the original design were replaced by a spar deck.

Next Koninklijke Fabriek van Stoom- en andere Werktuigen and Fijenoord together made a design for the engines.

[14] The steam engines for Atjeh were built by Koninklijke Fabriek van Stoom- en andere Werktuigen.

[17] The engines were rated at 2,500 kilowatts (3,300 ihp) and produced a top speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph).

On her trials, Atjeh made the required speed by steaming 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph).

In October 1875 another change in plan determined the armament of Atjeh and Tromp to the all breechloaders configuration (six 17 cm guns) with which they were launched.

The fourth ship, De Ruyter, was planned to have eight 12 cm breechloaders from the start.