Designed by the German company Rohrbach for the British Royal Air Force, two were ordered, one completed by Rohrbach's Danish subsidiary and the second by the British licensees, William Beardmore and Company, but the type performed poorly during testing and was abandoned.

[3] In November 1924 Beardmore received an order for two Rorhbach flying boats,[3] based on Rohrbach's Ro III but powered by British Napier Lion engines.

[4] The Ro IV, known as the BeRo.2 Inverness by Beardmore, was a twin-engined high-winged cantilever monoplane, constructed mainly of duralumin.

Its two engines were mounted in streamlined tractor nacelles above the wing centre section; the slab-sided fuselage accommodated the crew of four.

While it incorporated a revised fuel and cooling system and a modified rudder, N184 still demonstrated poor performance.