The eight torpedo boats of the Flink class built at Bremen for the German Government were unable to achieve a speed greater thann16 knots. The German Admiralty considered this to be unsatisfactory and procured a vessel from a London builder that was used as a model for nineteen vessels built at Bremen and Stettin. However, the German Admiralty's system of entrusting the work to general shipbuilders was inappropriate, as it did not pay them to employ skilled staff for the sole purpose of constructing torpedo boats.