Operational History
All six Ikazuchi-class destroyers arrived in Japan in time to be used during the Boxer Rebellion to patrol the China coast and to cover the landings of Japanese ground troops. Niji was lost in an accident off the Shantung Peninsula on 1900-08-03, but the remaining five vessels saw combat service during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905.
After the end of the Russo-Japanese War, Inazuma was lost in a collision with a merchant vessel off the coast of Hakodate, Hokkaidō on 1909-12-16. On 1912-08-28 the remaining four Ikazuchi-class vessels were re-classified as third-class destroyers, and were removed from front-line combat service.
Akebono and Oboro returned to combat service in World War I as part of the Japanese detachment in the Battle of Tsingtao, and in the operation to seize German colonial possessions in the South Pacific. However, their remaining time on the navy list proved to be limited. After the lead ship Ikazuchi was lost in a boiler explosion at Ominato harbor due to metal fatigue in its engine on 1913-10-09, Sazanami was also retired from service. Oboro and Akebono were retained until 1921-04-01, when they were converted into auxiliary minesweepers for a brief period, but were scrapped in 1925.
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