The Yūgumo class had a forward slope on the bridge, which was intended to reduce wind resistance and improve stability.

as with other destroyer classes, as the Pacific War progressed, anti-aircraft armaments were increased, averaging over 20 by the battle of Leyte Gulf.

Uniquely, the Naganami carried a M2 Browning 50 caliber machine gun captured from the wrecked American submarine USS Darter on 25 October 1944 as some sort of war prize.

[1] Yūgumo was the only ship of her class completed before Japan's entry into WW2 on 5 December 1941, just two days before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

[6] In turn, Makigumo's crew committed a war crime when they, albeit very reluctantly, murdered the downed USS Yorktown pilots Frank W. O'Flaherty and Bruno Gaido.

In the latter battle, the class earned its first notable surface action when Makigumo assisted in finishing off the crippled aircraft carrier USS Hornet.

Makinami was crippled by air attacks and forced into several months of repair, while Makigumo was more fatally lured into a minefield by American PT Boats where she blew up and sank.

In February, Asashimo depth charged and sank the submarine USS Trout, their last victory over an enemy warship.

[15] Shortly afterwards, several Yūgumo class destroyers escorted aircraft carriers at the battle of the Philippine Sea, but in July Tamanami was sunk by the submarine USS Mingo.

[16] The remaining ships of the Yūgumo class took part in Admiral Kurita's center force at the battle of Leyte Gulf, where Naganami and Asashimo left the battle early to escort the crippled heavy cruiser Takao, while Kiyoshimo was forced to retire after being damaged by air attacks.

However, she met her end escorting the battleship Yamato during that ship's doomed final mission, departing Japan on the 6th of April.