Mitsubishi gave the task of designing the new fighter to Joji Hattori, the result was a single-bay biplane of wooden construction and was designed by a British designer Herbet Smmith.
It was not successful, with the design proposed by Nakajima, a modified version of the British Gloster Gamecock fighter being chosen for production as the Nakajima A1N, despite the fact that Nakajima and Gloster had chosen to ignore the requirement for easy ditching, allowing a lighter and more manoeuvrable aircraft. 
