Kawakaze pushes Japanese torpedo firepower upward

The Kawakaze class improved on the Isokaze design with two triple 533 mm torpedo launchers and three of the newer Type 3 120 mm (4.7-inch), 45-calibre guns. A third triple launcher was apparently considered, which would have given the ships a nine-torpedo broadside. The proposal followed the theory that an overlapping spread of more than eight torpedoes aimed at one target would be almost impossible to evade by combing the tracks. The gun battery was smaller than Isokaze's four-gun battery but used the newer weapon. Entering service in November 1918 and January 1919, the two ships arrived too late for meaningful wartime operations and gave Japan a powerful destroyer design at the beginning of the peace.