The ten Kaba-class second-class destroyers were built between October 1914 and April 1915 as an evolution of the Sakura class. They provided the basis for France's Arabe class, also called the Arab, Algerian, or Tribal class here. France's destroyer shortage led it to buy ships from an established Japanese design lineage. Japan agreed to build the ships without insisting on immediate payment, trusting that France would pay later. The financing arrangement invites a comparison with Lend-Lease, although these were World War I purchases.
Chapter · 2:13-3:38
The Kaba class and France's Japanese-built destroyers
The Kaba design became the basis for France's Arabe-class order. Japan supplied an Allied navy with urgently needed destroyers during World War I.