Using prefabricated hulls that had been built in the Yantar special economic zone of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, the three vessels were completed by Abeking & Rasmussen at Lemwerder, Germany. They are equipped with a diesel hybrid engine for fast speeds and a separate diesel-electric plant for an efficient cruising speed. The eponymous vessel Bad Bramstedt was commissioned on 8 November 2002 with a pennant number BG 24. Two other boats, Bayreuth (BG 25) and Eschwege (BG 26) followed on 2 May 2003 and 18 December 2003 respectively. With the transition of the German Federal Border Guard Bundesgrenzschutz into a federal police force (German: Bundespolizei), the pennant numbers were changed to BP 24, BP 25 and BP 26.
Bad Bramstedt and Bayreuth are based in Cuxhaven in the German Bight while Eschwege operates from Warnemünde in the Baltic Sea.