After the invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, the Dutch shipyards were almost undamaged. Therefore the German Navy contacted the Dutch shipbuilders to build some smaller vessels for the Kriegsmarine.

The so called Flottentorpedoboot 1940 was more a destroyer than a torpedo boat and based on Dutch designs.

24 ordered in 1940-1941, but only three were launched. In 1944 the incomplete ships were transferred to the Baltic Sea to be completed, but they were either destroyed or captured by the Allies after the war.

Some of the material already build for the Flottentorpedoboote 1940, like turbines and boilers,  was later used for the first Dutch destroyers build after the war, the Holland , Gelderland , Noordbrabant and Zeeland .