The havoc wrought on the Royal Netherlands Navy and its supporting defence industries by the Second World War was considerable. The necessity of reconstructing the navy in the face of a European political situation which was still far from stable was immediately recognized. The Naval Staff accordingly drew up a new Fleet Plan which aimed at the construction of a new fleet combining the latest theories of naval warfare with the practical lessons learned from the participation of Dutch naval units in the war and the losses experienced.

By 1950 authorization had been given for the construction of twelve large ASW destroyers. Until these ships could be completed the navy would use its motley collection of prewar Dutch- built and wartime British-built vessels to build up the expertise of its seamen, particularly in the new specialization constituted by ASW operations The difficulties inherent in the implementation of the Fleet Plan were two-fold: the lack of experience in designing and building ships as a result of the German occupation had taken its toll of the design teams of the Netherlands United Shipbuilding Bureaux. The near-total destruction of the Dutch defence industries caused inevitable delays in the construction and fitting out of the vessels. In particular, the decision to develop a home-based electronics industry capable of supplying all the necessary radars and fire control systems resulted in a number of ships being completed with empty mast platforms. The problems involved in designing a ship on the basis of predicted antenna dimensions and weights supplied by HSA while the radars concerned were still at the development stage will be self-evident to the reader. Nevertheless, the decision to develop a Dutch defence electronics industry rather than rely on the purchase of US or RN equipment has been a great success, not only in terms of the quality of the equipment produced, but also because of foreign sales.

The design problems involved in the re-establishment of the navy during the immediate postwar period were eased by close co-oporation with British naval constructors, who provided particular assistance in the layout of the new destroyers.

The name

The destroyer was named after the Province Drenthe, the 9th largest province of the Netherlands situated in the northeast. The name Drenthe is said to stem from thrija-hantja meaning “three lands”. Drenthe has been populated since prehistory.