An order for ships was signed by the Turkish government in April 1983 for four MEKO frigates.

Two ships were built in Germany and two in Turkey with German assistance.

The Turkish Navy has an ongoing limited modernization project for an electronic warfare suite.

Fatih was launched on 24 April 1987 by Gölcük Naval Shipyard in and commissioned on 12 October 1988.

[1] On 25 August 2020, the Italian destroyer Luigi Durand de la Penne conducted a maritime exercise in the Eastern Mediterranean with TCG Fatih.