The Yugumo class were the wartime built Japanese heavy destroyer class. Like all of the 'Fubuki' series destroyers their biggest problem was the 5" twin turret. The real life Yugumo was up to mount 'D', which had a 75 degree elevation, was still almost useless as an AA mounting as it was slow to traverse, slow to load and fire. Coupled with no dual purpose director the Yugumo was really only useful against surface ships.
I feel a magic wand moment coming on!
To correct these failures is fairly simple. I already have a dual purpose 5" mounting that I have fitted to the battleships and AA cruisers, so it is no great leap to fit it to the Yugumo class and probably some of the previous classes as well. The DP 5" turret comes in at 1937 so ships built from that date could have it fitted. Couple those with the Japanese DP director and you have a much better all round destroyer class.
Originally the class was to have 16 reloads for the Long Lance torpedoes. This was reduced to eight before completion and all reloads were removed as the number of light AA weapons increased. Over 20x25mm guns had been fitted to the class by the 1945 refit versions. If you needed more than eight torpedoes in an action, you were in trouble anyway. With the high speed maneuvering done in battle conditions, reloading the tubes would be almost impossible. Originally 12 were ordered, then increased to 24 then 30, and finally orders for 38 units had been placed. In real life only 19 were completed. All 19 being sunk.
