In July 1912, shortly before the outbreak of the First Balkan War, two of the under-construction 1911 Vulcan torpedo boats, V5 and V6 were sold to Greece as part of an urgent programme to build up the strength of the Greek Navy, becoming and . Two replacement ships were ordered for the German navy, sharing the same names as the two sold ships. The new V5, yard number 319, was launched from Vulcan's Stettin, Prussia (now Szczecin in Poland) shipyard on 25 April 1913 and commissioned on 17 July that year.
