Development
The first group, or Fubuki-class, consisted of the first ten vessels completed in 1928 and 1929, were simpler in construction than the vessels that followed. They had a rangefinder on the compass bridge, an exposed gun-fire control room, and were equipped with a “Type A” gun turret that only elevate both of its barrels at the same time and only to 40 degrees. The first group can be distinguished from later ships by their lack of ventilators atop the stacks.
The second group, or Ayanami-class, were built in 1930 and 1931, and had larger bridges which encompassed the rangefinder, an azimuth compass sighting device, the gun-fire control room, as well as a range finding tower. Furthermore, the boiler room's air inlet was changed from a pipe to a bowl shape. They also benefited from the deployment of “Type B” turrets, which could elevate each gun separately to 75° for AA use, making them the world's first destroyers with this capability.
The third group, also known as the Akatsuki-class, were built from 1931 to 1933. These vessels had larger boilers and a narrower fore funnel. Improvements included a unique splinter-proof torpedo launcher-turret, which allowed the torpedo launcher tubes to be reloaded in action (something which Western destroyers still did not have in the 1990s).
However, the Fubuki-class also had a number of inherent design problems. The large amount of armament combined with a smaller hull displacement than in the original design created issues with stability. After the Tomozuru Incident, in which the top-heavy design of many Japanese warships called basic design issues into question, additional ballast had to be added. In the Fourth Fleet Incident, during which a typhoon damaged virtually every ship in the Fourth Fleet, issues with the longitudinal strength of the Fubuki class hull was discovered. As a result, all vessels were reconstructed between 1935 and 1937. This increased the displacement to 2050 tons standard tons and over 2400 tons full load. The rebuild reduced the top speed slightly.
During World War II, as surviving vessels returned to the Japanese home islands for repair and refit, the anti-aircraft armament was steadily upgraded. In 1945, the "X" turret was replaced on surviving vessels to create space and lighten the top for the addition of 14 -Type 96 25 mm AT/AA Guns, two additional 13 mm anti-aircraft machine guns, 18 more depth charges, and radar were installed.
Read more about this topic: Fubuki Class Destroyer
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