Yep. Quite a number of the IJN's destroyers were older than many of the bigger ships, because they didn't become obsolete as fast. Cruisers and up were the subject of a massive, sustained international arms race between the 1890s and the outbreak of the Pacific War. That meant they advanced fast and became obsolescent just as quickly, while the revolution in Japanese destroyer technology sort of "arrived" with the Fubuki class in the early '20s (to the extent that several successor classes of destroyers were essentially just incrementally improved Fubukis), so they were still front-line combatants when the war came.
The IJN did still have capital ships dating to the '20s in service during the war, but only because of a series of treaties in force between 1922 and 1936 that prevented them from replacing the likes of Nagato and the Kongou sisters along the timetables originally intended. Those same treaties are why the US still had relatively elderly ships like Saratoga in harness, and the British the likes of Warspite, come to that.
Happy New Year~♡I mean, 2 of them...Mama♡Yes, yes...20 of them♪Happy New Year, and all the best this year too.
And stop with that "Mama", really...How many mochi you wanna eat~?By the way, you all~!2 of them~♪
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