While more lightly armed and armored than many of its contemporaries, their small size and relatively simple design facilitated their construction and their relatively high speed made them useful for many military operations.

[3] The design incorporated an all-steel, double-bottomed hull, with an armored deck, divided underneath by watertight bulkheads.

Secondary armament consisted of six QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I–IV mounted in sponsons on the upper deck.

Ordered in 1891, launched 9 March 1895, and completed 12 December 1896,[4] Suma served in the Boxer Rebellion and in the Russo-Japanese War.

[4] Ordered in 1893, launched 18 December 1897 and completed 30 March 1899,[4] Akashi was plagued in its early career with numerous problems with its engines, especially its boilers.

She was based out of Malta as flagship of a destroyer group as part of Japan's assistance to the Royal Navy under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.