The design was initiated to meet a requirement of the United States Navy (USN) for an anti-submarine warfare seaplane.

[1] The design was for a flying boat that would make use of boundary layer control to achieve slow speed flight.

[1] It was intended that this would enable the aircraft to land on the open ocean in rough seas and deploy a dipping sonar.

Both types suffered from budget constraints and neither was built (although a mock-up of the P7M was constructed);[1] the USN cancelled the contract for the two prototype XP6Y-1s[5] and later opted for the land-based P-3 Orion instead.

[1] General characteristics Performance Armament Missiles, bombs, and depth charges on external hardpoints