Schütze is the lead ship of her class (Klasse 340 or Schütze-Klasse), launched in May 1958 by the Abeking & Rasmussen shipyard in Lemwerder. She joined the 3. Minensuchgeschwader (3rd Minesweeper Squadron). In November 1960, she collided with a civilian freighter near her builder's yard, suffering minor damage. Around that time, she also underwent her first refit, receiving controllable pitch propellers. Further refits followed in 1962 and 1967. In 1973, she was transferred to the 1. Minensuchgeschwader. The remainder of her service, until the decommissioning in November 1992, was relatively uneventful. Since 1998 she has been in private hands in the Stralsund harbour. She sank on location in 2010 but was refloated in 2011 and subsequently hauled out, remaining on the hard ashore.

Introduced in Update "Hornet’s Sting", Schütze is a large, manoeuvrable vessel with an excellent main gun, a German iteration of the modern Bofors 40 mm L/70. This autocannon is extremely dangerous against wooden boats and, with HE-T-PF ammunition, she is also highly effective against aircraft. However, she struggles against larger or armoured vessels, as her HEF-T belts lack the penetration required to inflict internal damage to critical components or magazines. The ship's excessive heeling, exaggerated by a high turn rate, also makes it difficult to keep guns on target while manoeuvring. She has no other armament, and her only gun is frequently disabled by incoming enemy fire, making her highly reliant on player skill. Still, overall, she's an excellent warship that can wreak havoc if not immediately countered