Despite having undergone a limited modernisation, the four Hamburg-class destroyers intended for escort duties in the North Sea and North Atlantic were technologically obsolete by the 1980s, lacking assets such as an on-board helicopter capable of searching for submarines and still relying on steam turbines and boilers for propulsion.

Blohm + Voss and Bremer Vulkan had previously cooperated on a new F123 design to offer to the German Navy.

At the time Vulkan director Friedrich Hennemann felt that Blohm + Voss had afterwards illegitimately presented the jointly developed design as their own.

The primary anti-submarine weapons are Mark 46 torpedoes carried by the Sea Lynx helicopters stationed on board of the frigates.

For defense against anti-ship missiles and aircraft, two Mark 41 vertical launching system modules with 8 cells each, 16 in total are located in front of the bridge.

An OTO Melara 76 mm compact naval gun is located in front of the frontal RAM launcher.

On the morning of 9 December 2015, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was transiting the Kiel Canal when she was involved in a collision with the container ship Nordic Bremen causing damage to both vessels.

[6] Mecklenburg-Vorpommern suffered a 4-meter (13 ft) gash along her bow at the level of the main deck, whilst Nordic Bremen fared better, having only to offload two damaged containers before continuing its voyage.

[7][8] From August 2021 to February 2022, Bayern was traversing the Horn of Africa, Australia, and Japan on an Indo-Pacific deployment, engaging in numerous port calls on the way.