Isuzu as a fast Japanese light cruiser and minelayer

What was the Imperial Japanese Navy's Isuzu?

A Nagara-class light cruiser: fast and useful as a minelayer and torpedo platform, but not a ship that should trade gunfire with stronger British light cruisers.

Isuzu belonged to the six-ship Nagara class built between 1920 and 1924. The design carried 48 mines, torpedo tubes, 140 mm and 80 mm guns and a 60 mm belt. These features made it a useful light cruiser and minelayer for the 1920s. A direct fight with a British C-class cruiser would be unattractive, and a D- or E-class opponent still less welcome. Its roughly 36-knot speed offered a way to avoid that encounter.