In the early 1970s, the Royal Netherlands Navy developed a 'Standard' frigate design to replace the destroyers of the and es. The 'Standard' design would have anti-submarine (the ) and anti-aircraft (the ) variants with different armaments on a common hull design. The first eight
Kortenaers were ordered in 1974, with four more ordered in 1976, although two were sold to Greece while being built, and replaced by two of the anti-aircraft variant.
Kortenaer was
long overall and
between perpendiculars, with a
beam) of and a
draft of .
Displacement was standard and full load.
Kortenaers aft Oto Melara 76 mm gun was replaced by a
Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun in 1982, and this, in turn, was replaced by the intended Goalkeeper by 1995. On transfer to Greece, the Goalkeeper was removed. Greece replaced it by an American
Phalanx CIWS, while
Agusta-Bell AB 212 helicopters replaced the Lynxes. HNLMS
Kortenaer, the name-ship of her class, was
laid down at the
Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde (KM de Schelde) shipyard in
Vlissingen on 8 April 1975. She was
launched on 18 December 1976 and commissioned into service on 26 October 1978. ==Dutch service history==