The first months of the war showed that the existing mine hunters of the German fleet were too lightly armed to protect themselves against allied destroyers or other smaller craft.
Therefore, the next generation of German mine hunters - the Mboot 1915 class - showed an improvement of the armament, either being equipped with three 8,8 cm guns or even two 10,5 cm ones. In addition, the size and engine performance was slightly increased as well.

Like the other mine hunters, many boats got lost through mine hits during the war. Most of the surviving ships were scrapped in the early 1920s, only a few were sold to foreign countries and even fewer were rebuild for other use and kept operational.