The Ayanami class was a destroyer class built for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) in the late 1950s.

The primary purpose was anti-submarine warfare, so this class was classified as "DDK" (hunter-killer anti-submarine destroyer) unofficially.

[1] This class adopted a "long forecastle" design with inclined afterdeck called "Holland Slope", named after the scenic sloping street in Nagasaki City.

[2] Their steam turbine propulsion systems were similar to the ones of the Harukaze class, but they varied between each ship in the class as part of the JMSDF's attempt to find the best propulsion system for its future surface combatants.

[5] All seven vessels names had previously been borne by ships of the World War II-era Fubuki and Yūgumo-class destroyer classes.