In 1974, the Royal Netherlands Navy announced, through the Ministry of Defence's 10-year plan Defensienota 1974 [nl], that it wanted to replace its aging Dolfijn-class submarines.

[6] Since the 1960s, the Royal Netherlands Navy had been conducting studies and research into a suitable replacement attack submarine.

Nonetheless, even with the diesel-electric submarine, the Dutch government sought to work together with international allies to reduce construction costs.

[9] Furthermore, there was a focus on automation which was aimed at decreasing the manpower required to operate the submarines, while also making them more effective against threats.

[8] Furthermore, the design was constantly modified to incorporate new developments in the submarine world, which led to issues that slowed the building process.

[4] Unexpectedly, on 19 February 1983, RDM's parent company Rijn-Schelde-Verolme declared bankruptcy, despite successive governments providing 2.2 billion guilders in state aid to RSV.

[2] Furthermore, the Royal Netherlands Navy ordered an additional two Walrus-class submarines earlier than planned to assist RDM financially.

[16] The fire lasted about five hours, and resulted in immense damage to the submarine; the command center was completely burned out.

[17] All the problems, delays and rising costs were eventually dubbed by the Dutch national parliament as the "Walrus-affair".

[22] This makes the boats very suitable for combating surface vessels and submarines, protecting friendly units, gathering information, providing early warning detection, and supporting special operations.

Nonetheless, they have provided excellent services in various international conflict situations in which the deployment of the Royal Netherlands Navy was requested.

[30] They have operated in the Northern Atlantic, Mediterranean Yugoslavian region, the Persian Gulf at Iran and Iraq, and the Caribbean, often upon the request of allies, including the United States.

[31] In November 2016, the Russian Navy claimed to have chased off a Walrus-class vessel from a battle group that included the Admiral Kuznetsov.

[34] The upgrades were focused on near-shore operations and integration with new weapons, and include: In 2013, the contract for the Walrus-class (IP-W) Conservation Program was signed.

Roughly, there are two groups in the Dutch parliament – one in favor of replacing the Walrus class by an equally capable class of large, expeditionary, diesel-electric submarine, and the other in favor of choosing a cheaper solution of smaller diesel-electrics, similar to Swedish and German submarines.

Instead, the Dutch Ministry of Defence signalled that the envisaged dates would have to be "substantially adjusted", possibly incorporating a life extension refit for the existing Walrus-class boats.

[65] In 2022 the Spanish Ministry of Defence sent a letter to the Dutch DMO for Navantia to be allowed to put in an offer following the announcement that a RFQ will be sent to the remaining contenders, in which some of the requirements had changed.

[68] On 15 March 2024 State Secretary for Defence Christophe van der Maat officially announced that Naval Group from France has been selected as the winning bid.

[69][70][71] Prior to this announcement, the winner was already leaked to several media outlets, which caused political backlash for choosing a foreign yard over a Dutch one.