 Following the end of World War II and during German re-armament in the Cold War era, the German Navy ("Bundesmarine") had built a number of fast attack craft classes, mostly developments of the war-time "Schnellboot" design.However, in the 1960s the German Navy was interested in the possibilities of a different hull shape, for use in narrow coastal waters.To this end they ordered two vessels from the Norwegian company Båtservice Verft, of Mandal, which had already designed a hard-chined planing hull for its prototype fast patrol boat, the "Nasty".