[1] The Umikaze-class destroyers were designed after the Russo-Japanese War, as the Imperial Japanese Navy realized that the vessels in its current fleet of destroyers were too small and poorly designed for extended "blue water" operation.

[2] Two vessels were built, based largely on British designs, one at Maizuru Naval Arsenal and the other at the Mitsubishi shipyards in Nagasaki.

In terms of displacement, each vessel was almost three times larger than the previous destroyers in the Japanese Navy.

The rated power of 20,500 shp gave the vessels a high speed of 33 knots (61 km/h), however fuel consumption severely limited range.

The Umikaze ships were rated at first-class destroyers on 28 August 1912, and served to 1 June 1930 when both were converted to minesweepers.