The Haruna-class ships were Japan's first helicopter-equipped destroyers (DDH) and could carry and operate three helicopters In terms of equipment, they were the first vessels of the Japanese fleet to be equipped with a fin stabilizer to stabilize its attitude during helicopter operation, and a landing restraint device (bear trap) was installed to improve the safety and efficiency of flight work on a swaying ship.

[1] From July 3 to August 17, 1978, she participated in Hawaii dispatch training with her sister ship Haruna, the submarine Kuroshio and eight P-2J aircraft.

Hiei participated in the Japan-Russia search and rescue joint training conducted off the coast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia from September 1 to 11, 2000 with Hamagiri.

From July 23 to 27, 2010, participated in the Japan-Russia search and rescue joint training SAREX off the coast of Vladivostok, Russia, with Jintsū.

The commissioning period was 36 years and 3 months, which is the longest among the ships of the Maritime Self-Defense Force in history, with a cruising distance of about 44 laps around the Earth and a voyage time of about 79,000 hours.