During WWII, the Imperial Japanese Navy decided to refit the Tone-class as heavy cruisers and the construction of the Tone was completed in November 1938. As the Tone was designed to provide reconnaissance even during battle, she was therefore armed with four 20.3cm twin gun turrets which were concentrated forward of the bridge while the aft deck was dedicated to aircraft operations and could carry up to 6 floatplanes. With a rational hull design, she featured a top speed of 35 knots and had a long cruising range. As the Pacific War broke out in December 1941, the Tone served during the Pearl Harbor attack and was also apart of the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Later in October 1944, the Battle of Leyte Gulf saw the Tone contribute in sinking the USS Gambier Bay. She was then later assigned to the Japanese Naval Academy as a training ship and returned to Kure, where she was damaged by an air attack from the U.S. Navy's Task Force 58 in March 1945. In July, she was attacked in Etajima Bay by aircraft from Task Force 38 and sank in shallow water.

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