the Hamakaze class was a larger and more powerful version of the previous Uranami Class, as a result of being built after Uranami Class destroyers the hamakaze class rectified many of the issues seen in the previous class of destroyer, the main one of which being the stability issues, the class was comprised of 8 vessels all of which were identical to each other, the main Armament of the hamakaze class was not too different from the preceding Destroyer classes, this being three 100 mm guns however the torpedo Armament was a step up in terms of amount of torpedoes carried, as built the hamakaze had to triple torpedo launchers for the time when she was commissioned this was a rarity among destroyers of that time.
Ordered: 19 March 1912
Laid down: 5 November 1913
Launched: 28 April 1915
Commissioned: 29 February 1916
Decommissioned: 24 August 1931
Struck: 28 December 1931
Fate: sold for scrapped scrap
Status: scrapped 1932
General characteristics
Displacement: (1,200 tons) (1,799 tons full load)
Length: 93.8 m (308 ft)
Beam: 8.8 m (29 ft)
Draft: 3.3 m (11 ft)
Installed power: 2-shaft geared turbines, 6 water tube boiler, 21,604 shp
Speed: 36 knots (41 mph; 67 km/h)
Armament: as commissioned 1916-Hamakaze
3 × single TYPE 5 10cm (3.9 inches guns)
2 × triple TYPE 9 53cm (20.9 inches torpedoes)
Armament: as sunk 1934-Urakaze
3 × single TYPE 20 12cm (5 inches guns)
3 x twin TYPE 25 3cm (1.1 autocannons)
1 × triple TYPE 9 53cm (20.9 inches torpedoes)
Armour:
Uniform 15 millimetres across the entire ship
As a result of being commissioned during the First World War, hamakaze was painted in standard type three mod 1 camouflage with the rest of her sister's been commissioned in wartime also receiving this paint scheme,hamakaze herself will the only one of her class to take part in the Battle of Jutland, during the battle she managed to sink a German destroyer however the exact identity of this Destroyer was never ascertained, but it is believed to have been the Destroyer V1 or the Destroyer G7, the rest of Her Sisters spend most of their time patrolling around the Indian Ocean and the Pacific in search of German commerce Raiders, with the Wars end in 1918 the hamakaze along with many other Zipang Navy vessels returned to home Waters.
with the signing of Washington naval treaty in 1922 several of the ships for placed into the reserve Fleet while others were selected for modernisation, this modernization entailed the replacement of their 100mm guns with the newer type 20 127 mm naval gun, and the torpedo mounts being replaced with newer enclosed ones, as well as the addition of a single twin type 25 30 mm anti aircraft gun, as well as a rangefinder for the new 5 inch main battery, the ships that were placed in the reserve however would be scrapped by the end of the 1920s, the ships that remained in commission would quickly be outclassed a newer and larger destroy classes as a result by 1932, Urakaze was the only one of the class left in commission, however her fate would be much different from the rest of Her Sisters, she would go on to be sunk in the Japanese surprise attack on Tajima naval Arsenal along with many other older vessels on the 4th of September 1934.
Ships in class: (laid down-launched-commissioned - fate)
Hamakaze (DD25) 1912-1915-1916 - Decommissioned 1931
Harukaze (DD26) 1912-1915-1916 - Decommissioned 1929
Hatakaze (DD27) 1912-1915-1916 - Grounded 1929, broken up
Hakaze (DD28) 1912-1915-1916 - Decommissioned 1930
Akikaze (DD29) 1913-1916-1917 - Decommissioned 1932
Sawakaze (DD30) 1913-1916-1917 - sunk 1917
Numakaze (DD31) 1914-1917-1918 - Decommissioned 1933
Urakaze (DD32) 1914-1917-1918 - sunk 1934