Advanced for their time, these ships served as first-line destroyers through the 1930s, but were considered obsolescent by the start of the Pacific War.

[3] On completion, Nokaze was teamed with sister ships Namikaze, Numakaze, and flagship Kamikaze at Yokosuka Naval District to form Destroyer Division 1.

In 1938–1939, this division was assigned to patrols of the northern and central China coastlines in support of Japanese combat operations in the Second Sino-Japanese War At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Nokaze was based at the Ōminato Guard District in northern Japan, and was assigned to patrols of the Hokkaidō and Chishima Islands coastlines.

During the Battle of Midway in May 1942, Nokaze was assigned to the reserve force for the Aleutian Islands Operation, which did not leave Japanese waters.

On 20 February 1945, Nokaze was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Pargo north of Nha Trang, French Indochina in the South China Sea at position 12°48′N 109°38′E / 12.800°N 109.633°E / 12.800; 109.633.