The Mutsuki class was an improved version of the s and was the first with triple torpedo tubes. The ships had an overall length of and were between perpendiculars. They had a beam of, and a mean draft of. The Mutsuki-class ships displaced at standard load and at deep load. They were powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by four Kampon water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce, which would propel the ships at. The ships carried of fuel oil which gave them a range of at. Their crew consisted of 150 officers and crewmen. The main armament of the Mutsuki-class ships consisted of four Type 3 guns in single mounts; one gun forward of the superstructure, one between the two funnels and the last pair back to back atop the aft superstructure. The guns were numbered '1' to '4' from front to rear. The ships carried two above-water triple sets of 61-centimeter torpedo tubes; one mount was between the forward superstructure and the forward gun and the other was between the aft funnel and aft superstructure. Four reload torpedoes were provided for the tubes. They carried 18 depth charges and could also carry 16 mines. They could also fitted with minesweeping gear.
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Mutsuki was the flagship of Destroyer Division 30 under Destroyer Squadron 6 of the 4th Fleet. She sortied from Kwajalein on 8 December as part of the Wake Island invasion force, carrying an advance landing party of the Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces. Early on the morning of 11 December, the American garrison repulsed the first landing attempts by the SNLF, which was supported by the light cruisers,, and and the destroyers,,, Mutsuki,, and, two old vessels converted to patrol boats, and two troop transports containing 450 SNLF troops. After taking heavy losses, the Japanese force withdrew before landing. This was the first Japanese defeat of the war, and also the only occasion in World War II when an amphibious assault was repulsed by shore-based guns. Mutsuki returned on 23 December with the second Wake Island invasion force, and again carried a SNLF advance landing party before returning to Kwajalein. The ship escorted a convoy from Kwajalein to the naval base at Truk in January 1942, where a sponson was installed for a pair of license-built Type 93 anti-aircraft machineguns on the forward side of the bridge. Mutsuki then escorted a troop convoy from Truk to Guam later that month, and then joined the invasion of the Solomon Islands, covering the landings of Japanese forces during Operation R, and during Operation SR in January–March. From 28 March to 1 April, she served as the flagship for Rear AdmiralMasao Kanazawa, commander of the 8th Special Base Force during the initial occupation of the Shortland Islands and Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. Later that month, the ship supported the occupation of the Admiralty Islands. During the Battle of the Coral Sea from 7–8 May 1942, Mutsuki was assigned to the Operation Mo invasion force for Port Moresby. After that operation was cancelled, Mutsuki remained based out of Rabaul, escorting shipping between Truk, Rabaul and Palau until recalled to Japan in July for a brief refit. After repairs were completed at Sasebo Naval Arsenal on 12 July 1942, Mutsuki was reassigned to the IJN 8th Fleet and participated in the bombardment of Henderson Field on 24 August 1942. During the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 25 August 1942, Mutsuki was sunk in an attack by USAAFB-17 Flying Fortress bombers while assisting the damaged transport Kinryu Maru, northeast of Santa Isabel island. Mutsuki took a direct bomb hit in her engineering section, killing 41 crewmen and injuring 11 more. Yayoi took on the survivors, which included her captain, Lt. Cdr. Kenji Hatano. Mutsuki was struck from the Navy List on 1 October 1942.
