Editing Ikazuchi-class destroyer (section)

==Background==
In the [[First Sino-Japanese War]], the Japanese navy came to understand the combat effectiveness of small, fast [[torpedo]]-equipped warships over larger, slower ships equipped with slow-loading and often inaccurate [[naval artillery]]. The ''Ikazuchi''-class vessels were the second group of [[destroyer]]s to be procured by the Imperial Japanese Navy (the Thornycroft-built ''Murakumo'' and ''Shinonome'' were ordered a day earlier than the first two Yarrow-built destroyers),<ref>Watts, ''The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945''</ref> but the [[lead ship]] ''Ikazuchi'' was the first to be laid down and launched. Four ships were ordered under the 1896 fiscal year budget (''Ikazuchi'' and ''Inazuma'' on 16 January 1897, and ''Akebono'' and ''Sazanami'' on 30 April 1897), and an additional two under the 1897 budget (''Niji'' and ''Oboro'' on 1 July 1898). All were ordered from [[Yarrow Shipbuilders|Yarrow & Company]] in [[Poplar, London|Poplar]], London, which was considered to be the world's premier builders of destroyers and smaller warships.<ref>Howarth, ''The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun''</ref>