The Kil class were designed to counter the U-boat threat posed by the Imperial German Navy during the First World War.

They were designed to be equipped with hydrophones and depth charges to detect and destroy enemy submarines before they posed a threat to allied convoys.

[2] They had a single central funnel, and deckhouses both fore and aft were designed to be similar in order to enhance the effect.

[1] The class entered service after the main threat of the U-boats had passed, and therefore their effectiveness in anti-submarine warfare cannot be determined.

[4] Thirty other ships were cancelled, fourteen were to be built by Cochrane, eleven by Cook, Welton & Gemmell, three by Hall Russell and two by Hawthorn Leslie.