The Tone was a Japanese heavy cruiser the keel of which was laid in 1934, launched in November 1937, and commissioned in the Imperial Japanese Navy in November 1938. The ship was 189 m long, 19.4 m wide, and had a full displacement of 15,400 tons. Cruiser Tone's top speed was 35 knots. The main armament at the time of the launch was 8 203 mm guns in four turrets, two guns each, and the additional armament included: 12 127 mm guns and 12 610 mm torpedo tubes.

The Tone was the first cruiser of the type to bear the same name - the Tone. Initially, units of this type were planned to be built based on the already proven project of the Mogami cruisers, but due to the withdrawal of Japan from the disarmament systems, and especially from the London Treaty of 1932, it allowed the designers to deeply redesign new units, e.g. by adding a larger number of seaplanes, which allowed the Tone-class ships to perform reconnaissance functions in relation to their own groups of aircraft carriers. In the course of operations during the Second World War, the cruiser Tone took part in many operations. At its very beginning, it took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and later in the Japanese fleet's raid on the Indian Ocean (April 1942). He also fought at Midway in June 1942, and from August of that year fought in the waters around Gudalcanal. In the course of the Battle of Leyte (October 1944), the cruiser was badly damaged and was sent to the Home Islands for repair. There, at the base in Kure, it was sunk by American on-board planes on July 24, 1945.