[2][3] The most notable surface vessels that were destroyed during the war were HNLMS Java, Sumatra and De Ruyter.

This meant that the Royal Netherlands Navy had lost most of its firepower and was dependent on outdated and less powerful ships such as the light cruisers HNLMS Tromp and Jacob van Heemskerck.

The navy leadership had remained active during the Second World War and had laid out plans for future ships that needed to be built and how many of each class.

The reason for this was that the Netherlands and its biggest colony, the Dutch East Indies had been occupied by foreign invaders during the war and a lot of infrastructure had been damaged during the fighting.

Destroyers were one of the ship classes prioritized during the rebuilding effort, since they had shown their worth during the Second World War and the Netherlands had decided to specialize in NATO-context Anti-Submarine Warfare.

[2] However, besides being able to destroy enemy submarines, the requirements also included protection against radioactivity and the ability to perform coastal bombardments.

[12] There were also serious doubts about the stability of the new vessels, which resulted in extra measures such as building the mast construction with aluminum instead of steel.

[14] The armament comprised two twin Bofors 120 mm guns built in license by Wilton-Fijenoord, which were capable of firing 38 to 42 rounds per minute.

[14] The close-range anti-aircraft armament was reduced in service from the original six to just a single Bofors 40 mm gun due top weight issues.

The Royal Netherlands Navy considered replacing the after 120 mm turret with a guided missile system in the late 1950s but this project was cancelled.