The mid-1930s saw the ever increasing numbers of fast monoplane fighters
entering service with many of the world's air forces. This was not the
case in naval aviation, where biplane designs still reigned supreme. One
exception to the rule was the French Navy with its aircraft carrier
Bearn and embarked Dewoitine D.371T1 fighters in parasol
configuration, hardly a promising design for carrier-based aircraft.
Prevalence of biplanes among naval fighters of the time was due to very
strict limitations on landing speeds imposed by small flight decks of
contemporary aircraft carriers. It was in the middle of that decade, in
1935, that the Mitsubishi A5M entered the stage - a low-wing, monoplane
carrier-based fighter, which set new standards for aircraft of its
class. Having said that, the Claude wasn't the first fighter in this
configuration designed for the Imperial Japanese Navy .