Japan continued building destroyers throughout the 1920s and 1930s. It lacked the large First World War construction surge that allowed other navies to pause production. First- and second-class destroyers served different requirements within that continuous programme. The central criticism is that Japan judged optimum capability against other navies without first deciding what its own force could realistically do.
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Japan's continuous destroyer programme
Japan kept building destroyers through the 1920s and 1930s, while measuring their capabilities against other navies.