Editing Fubuki-class destroyer (section)

==Background==
Following the ratification of the [[Washington Naval Treaty]] in 1922, the [[Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff]] issued requirements for a destroyer with a maximum speed of {{convert|39|kn|lk=in}}, range of {{convert|4000|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|14|kn}}, and armed with large numbers of torpedoes. As the treaty placed Japan in an inferior position relative to the United States and Great Britain in terms of capital ships, the obvious course of action would be to build large numbers of other types of ships not restricted by the treaty, with the most powerful weaponry possible.<ref name="Stille">{{cite book |last1=Stille |first1=Mark |title=Imperial Japanese Navy Destroyers1919–45 (1) |date=2013 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford, UK |isbn= 978-1-84908-984-5 |pages=21–23}}</ref> These destroyers were intended to operate with the new series of fast and powerful [[cruiser]]s also under consideration as part of a program intended to give the Imperial Japanese Navy a qualitative edge with the world's most modern ships.<ref>Fitzsimons, ''Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare'' p.1040</ref>

The resultant ''Fubuki'' class was ordered under the 1923 fiscal year budget, based on a smaller 1750 ton design, with ships completed between 1926 and 1931. Their performance was a great improvement over previous destroyer designs, so much so that they were designated {{nihongo|''Special Type Destroyers''|特型駆逐艦|''Toku-gata Kuchikukan''}}. The large size, powerful engines, high speed, large radius of action, and unprecedented armament gave these destroyers the firepower similar to many [[light cruiser]]s in other navies.<ref name="Peattie page 221-222">Peattie & Evans, ''Kaigun'' page 221-222.</ref> The closest equivalents in the [[United States Navy]] were the {{sclass|Porter|destroyer|5}} and {{sclass|Somers|destroyer|2}}s, of which only thirteen vessels were constructed in the 1930s to function as destroyer squadron leaders.<ref>Lenton, H. T. ''American Fleet and Escort Destroyers''. (Doubleday, 1971), p.45-47.</ref>