Suzutsuki was the third ship from the series of the most powerful Akizuka destroyers, designed specifically as anti—aircraft defense ships, whose main armament consisted of 8 universal 100 mm caliber guns with excellent ballistic characteristics. The Akizuia destroyers were designed before the beginning of World War II as anti—aircraft ships for fast Japanese groups of aircraft carriers. They were completely different from the previous Japanese destroyers, in which the emphasis was put on strong artillery (127 mm guns) and torpedo armament. They were inspired by the British _Dido _class light anti—aircraft cruisers, however, in contrast with them, the Akizuka destroyers were medium size ships intended for anti—aircraft defense of groups of fleet.