In May 1915, the Technical Bureau at the Main Shipbuilding Department received an order to design small destroyers for coastal operations. Initially, it was planned to use Project D, with a displacement of 350 tons, as its basis. However, the standard displacement increased to 750 tons and more during the development process, which brought this project closer to the Novik-class destroyers that were already under construction, both in terms of displacement and cost. As a result, the Naval General Staff refused to build the ships under this project.