During World War II the German Kriegsmarine had no well designed escort vessels and had to use various other ships for this task. Since the pre-war design of the Flottenbegleiter had proved to be a failure, Destroyer, Torpedoboote, captured ships and other smaller ships were used for escort duty.

When the allied threat to German shipping - especially air attacks - got more intense in 1942 the design of the Schnelle Geleitboote 1941 was made.
Based on the pre-war design of the Kanonenboot 1938, those ships differed mainly in a stronger propulsion system, more antiaircraft guns and the possibility to carry mines.

A total of 24 ships were ordered, the first four at a German shipyard (Stülcken in Hamburg), the others at shipyards in the Netherlands.

The first of the ships - G1 - was laid down on 25.11.1942, but construction was stopped in May 1943. The incomplete ship was destroyed during an air attack.
None of the other ships was laid down, but some construction preperations were made for G2 , G5 and G6 . The orders were canceled in 1942 and 1943.