[2] They remained effective in their role to the end of World War II, despite being much older than contemporary ships of foreign nations.

[3] Following the ratification of the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922, the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff issued requirements for a destroyer with a maximum speed of 39 knots (72 km/h; 45 mph), range of 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph), and armed with large numbers of torpedoes.

[5] The resultant Fubuki class was ordered under the 1923 fiscal year budget, based on a smaller 1750 ton design, with ships completed between 1926 and 1931.

[7] The initial design for the Fubuki-class was based on a 2000-ton displacement hull with a single 12.7 cm (5.0 in) battery, two twin 24-inch torpedo tubes (as introduced in Mutsuki), and capable of 40 knots (74 km/h).

Following the adoption of the Washington Naval Treaty from 1923, the design was modified to 1680 standard tons with more guns and more torpedo tubes.

However, their increased displacement more than offset their more powerful engines, resulting in a slower top speed than originally planned.

[8] The engines were powered by four Kampon boilers running two-shaft geared turbines at 50,000 shp, yielding a rated speed of 35 knots (65 km/h), with a range of 5000 nautical miles.

The S-shaped curved bow introduced on the Mutsuki class was retained; however, the well deck in front of the bridge was removed, which made it possible to extend the forecastle further aft and to flare the hull back to the first stack, which increased seaworthiness.

This proved to be extremely unpopular with the crews and was a constant source of confusion in communications with the earlier Kamikaze and Mutsuki classes, and naval policy was changed in August 1928.

They had a rangefinder on the compass bridge and an exposed gun-fire control room, and were equipped with a "Type A" gun turret that elevated both of its barrels at the same time and only to 40 degrees.

[4] The second group, or Ayanami class, were built in 1930 and 1931, and had larger bridges that encompassed the rangefinder, an azimuth compass sighting device and the gun-fire control room, as well as a range finding tower.

They also benefited from the deployment of "Type B" turrets, which could elevate each gun separately to 75° for AA use, making them the world's first destroyers with this capability.

The large amount of armament combined with a smaller hull displacement than in the original design created issues with stability.