Nenohi was the second of six Hatsuharu-class destroyers, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy under the Circle One Program. Three were laid down in JFY 1931 and the next three in JFY 1933. The remaining six ships in the plan were built as the Shiratsuyu class.

The 12.7 cm/50 Type 3 naval gun was a medium-caliber naval gun of the Imperial Japanese Navy used during World War II. It was the standard weapon for Japanese destroyers between 1928 and 1944. It has been credited as a true dual-purpose gun, but this was more a nominal capability than real, as its bag propellant and need for hand ramming required the gun to be loaded at elevation angles of 5–10°. This dropped its rate of fire to a relatively slow 5–10 rounds per minute, and its training speed of only 6° per second meant that it had a great deal of difficulty engaging enemy aircraft with any chance of success. After the end of World War II, the gun was exported via the two Japanese destroyers ceded as war reparations to the Soviet Union and the Republic of China.