The NLWKN had two ships at its disposal until 2010 for silt clearance in the East Frisian mudflat fairways: the Hooge Hörn (built in 1971) and the Utlandshörn (built in 1954). Due to inadequate safety standards, however , the Utlandshörn had to be decommissioned in summer 2010. Immediate replacement initially failed due to state policy requirements. It was not until October 2013 that the Lower Saxony state parliament approved a new ship. The contract for the new building was awarded to the Hermann Barthel shipyard in Derben on September 8, 2014 .
The ship was laid down on March 10, 2015 as hull number 187, launched on January 28, 2016 and was delivered to the client on March 3, 2016. The construction costs of around four million euros were financed from state funds. The official commissioning took place on March 23, 2016 in the port of Greetsiel.
