Japanese cruiser Tone (1907)

Tone (利根) was a protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was named after the Tone River in Tokyo.

Background
Tone was designed and built in Japan by the Sasebo Naval Arsenal, under the 1904 Emergency Fleet Replenishment Program to recover from losses to the Japanese navy in the Russo-Japanese War. As funding was limited, the Diet of Japan rejected budgeting for a sister ship or for subsequent construction of the same design.

Design
Although dimensionally similar to the British-built JAPANESE CRUISER Yoshino, Tone had the raked funnels and clipper bow that would be a feature of future Japanese warships.

Her powerplant consisted of two Mitsubishi vertical 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines with 16 Miyabara boilers, driving two screws. The boilers could run on a mixed-mode of coal sprayed with oil, and could drive the ship at a maximum speed of 23 knots, with an endurance of 7400 nautical miles at 10 knots. Tone was the last ship in the Imperial Japanese Navy to be powered by a reciprocating engine.

Her main armament consisted of two Type 41 6 inch 45 caliber naval guns behind gun shields, and secondary armament was ten QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I–IVs and four QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval guns. Tone also had three 457 mm torpedo tubes.

Tone utilized Krupp armor with a thickness of 38 mm to 76 mm on the decks, and 102 mm on the conning tower. The design did not incorporate any side armor.

Tone was laid down on 27 November 1905 at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal, launched on 24 October 1907, and completed on 15 May 1910.

Service record
Soon after completion, from 1 April 1911 to 12 November 1911, Tone was sent as part of the official Japanese naval delegation to Great Britain, as part of the coronation celebration for King George V.

In World War I, Tone was assigned to the Japanese 2nd Fleet, and fought in the Battle of Tsingtao against the Imperial German Navy. Afterwards, it was re-assigned to the 3rd Fleet (Imperial Japanese Navy), and was based out of Singapore, from whence she patrolled the sea lanes in the Indian Ocean and also occasionally in the Dutch East Indies against German commerce raiders and U-boats, as part of Japan's contribution to the Allied war effort under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

Between 1924 and 1929, Tone served as a station ship on the Yangtze River around Shanghai, China. She was transferred to the reserves at Sasebo Naval District on 30 November 1929.

Stricken from the navy list on 1 April 1931, and renamed Haikan No 2, Tone was expended as an aircraft target off Amami Ōshima on 30 April 1933.