This effectively meant that additional units of the previous Fubuki and Akatsuki-class destroyers could no longer be built.

The Imperial Japanese Navy responded by ordering naval architects to design ships that were lighter by at least 260 tons, and yet mount the same armament.

[2] This armament design was not unprecedented, however, as the two Romanian Navy destroyers Mărăști and Mărășești were fitted with two twin and one single 120 mm guns a few years prior, in 1926.

This was a problem shared with other Japanese ship designs of the time, which attempted to place too much armament on too small a displacement hull.

The Hatsuharu-class destroyers were designed to accompany the Japanese main striking force and to conduct both day and night torpedo attacks against the United States Navy as it advanced across the Pacific Ocean, according to Japan's naval strategic projections.

And the Hatsuharu vessels were to be fitted with modern, enclosed command spaces protected against strafing aircraft.

The Japanese used the same high-tensile steel for the Hatsuharu class as they did for the older destroyers and chose not to increase the power of the turbines and boilers to achieve the desired high speed, but lengthened the hull to offset the reduced power of the light-weight machinery.

More frames of lighter construction were spaced more closely together to reduce the thickness of the hull plating and the extensive use of welding (only the longitudinal stringers and a few other parts were riveted) were some of the techniques utilized to reduce hull weight by 66.5 tonnes (65.4 long tons; 73.3 short tons) in comparison to the Fubuki class.

Electric welding was extensively used to reduce weight although it was at an early stage of development in Japan and was still problematic.

[8] The hull of the Hatsuharu-class vessels retained the general configuration of the Fubuki-class destroyers with a long forecastle and a pronounced flare of the forecastle to improve sea-keeping at high speeds by adding buoyancy and reducing the spray and water coming over the deck.

A large bridge structure was located at the aft end of the forecastle deck topped by four fire control stations of various types.

The second twin gun turret was mounted at the rear of the ship on the main deck.

Between the two funnels was the forward 61 centimetres (24 in) triple torpedo tube mount fitted on a low platform.

Four license-built Hotchkiss 13.2 mm (0.52 in) Type 93 machine guns were also fitted to Hatsushimo, but these were of limited utility against modern aircraft.

"NiCrMo" steel, taken from the air chambers of obsolete torpedoes, 3 mm (0.12 in) in thickness, was chosen for the new shields to save weight.

[16] Only eighteen depth charges were initially carried in a rack at the stern, but this increased to thirty-six after the autumn of 1942.

[17] A dozen Hatsuharu-class destroyers were authorized in 1931 as part of the so-called Circle One Program (Maru Ichi Keikaku).

The Navy ordered in September 1933 that 30-centimetre (12 in) bulges be fitted on each side to increase her beam and thus raise the metacentric height.

[20] The capsizing of the torpedo boat Tomozuru in 1934 forced the Navy to re-evaluate the heavy armament of the Hatsuharu and other classes.

As a result of the investigations in ship stability after the capsizing of the torpedo boat Tomozuru, all vessels in the Hatsuharu class were modified to improve their stability:[21] The first two ships of the class — Hatsuharu and Nenohi — had already entered service by the time of the Tomozuru Incident.

These proved to reduce their speed by one knot and were removed after their trials as superfluous since both ships had been rebuilt to reflect the lessons of the Tomozuru Incident.

As a result of these and previous modifications the ships were 23.2% heavier, had lost 33% of their torpedo armament and were 3 knots (5.6 km/h) slower compared with their original design values.