Japanese destroyers gained value as individual warships

Japanese interwar destroyers carried powerful torpedo batteries without sacrificing useful gun positions, keeping them within the destroyer type rather than making them enlarged torpedo boats. Their scale continued an approach associated with the Imperial German Navy's large torpedo craft. Treaty rules applied cumulative limits to the major destroyer-building navies because Britain, the United States, and Japan were producing fleets beyond the numbers fielded elsewhere. Destroyers were increasingly valued as individual combat assets instead of chiefly through the number available in a flotilla.