In 1930, the Portuguese navy drew up a 10 year shipbuilding programme to replace its aging fleet, with planned purchases including two cruisers, twelve destroyers and a number of submarines and sloops.

[1][2] The competition for the design for destroyers was won by Yarrow Shipbuilders beating bids from Thornycroft and Italian shipyards.

The turbines, rated at 33,000 shaft horsepower (25,000 kW), were intended to give a maximum speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph).

The destroyers carried a maximum of 345 long tons (351 t) of fuel oil that gave them a range of 5,400 nautical miles (10,000 km; 6,200 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

[6] The two Yarrow-built ships were laid down in October 1931,[7] and commissioned in 1933,[1] while the first two Lisbon-built ships, Tejo and Douro, laid down in 1932,[7] were sold to the Colombian Navy before completion in response to the Leticia Incident between Columbia and Peru, and Peru's purchasing of two ex-Russian destroyers (Almirante Guise and Villar) from Estonia.