For a long time after its establishment in 1947, the JMSDF mainly operated ships that focused on a specific capacity, mainly for anti-submarine warfare. That changed in late 1979 when they began to build new destroyers to replace the ships that had been in service from as far back as the early 1950s. What made them different from other destroyers that the JMSDF had built thus far was that they ships were designated as a general-purpose warship. Equipped with many weapons for many different threats as well as the hanger space to carry a patrol helicopter for anti-submarine warfare, the destroyers formed an important part of the surface fleet of the JMSDF. The first one, called the Hatsuyuki came into service in 1982 and the last one in 1987.

While they fortunately never had to engage human foes, they most certain did deploy to help deal with the threats that kaiju had posed against Japan. Among one of their main actions was when the Hatsuyuki spotted Godzilla on sonar heading towards Tokyo in 2003.

A year later in 2004, the Hatsuyukis along with other warships of the JMSDF engaged Godzilla in open combat as he headed towards Tokyo. Concentrating their fire, they managed to delay Godzilla's advance and avoid any losses although they did not inflict any noticeable damage on Godzilla.