The main armament of the Minekaze-class ships consisted of four Type 3 guns in single mounts; one gun forward of he superstructure, one between the two funnels, one aft of the rear funnel, and the last gun atop the aft superstructure.
In 1937-38, Shimakaze was one of the ships that had her hull strengthened, funnel caps added and her fuel capacity reduced to .