was a

protected cruiser Protected cruisers, a type of cruiser of the late 19th century, took their name from the armored deck, which protected vital machine-spaces from fragments released by explosive shells. Protected cruisers notably lacked a belt of armour alon ...

of the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

. The ship was named after the

Tone River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano River) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Background

''Tone'' was designed and built in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

by the

Sasebo Naval Arsenal was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. History The Sasebo Naval District was established at Sasebo, Nagasaki in 1886, as the third of the naval districts responsible for the defense of the ...

, under the 1904 Emergency Fleet Replenishment Program to recover from losses to the Japanese navy in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

. As funding was limited, the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

rejected budgeting for a

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

or for subsequent construction of the same design.

Design

Although dimensionally similar to the British-built , ''Tone'' had the raked funnels and clipper bow that would be a feature of future Japanese warships.Jentsura, ''Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy''; page 103 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 , with an endurance of at . ''Tone'' was the last ship in the Imperial Japanese Navy to be powered by a

reciprocating engine A reciprocating engine, more often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common features of al ...

.Chesneau, '' Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905'', page 236 Her main armament consisted of two Type 41 6-inch/45 caliber naval guns behind

gun shield A U.S. Marine manning an M240 machine gun equipped with a gun shield A gun shield is a flat (or sometimes curved) piece of armor designed to be mounted on a crew-served weapon such as a machine gun, automatic grenade launcher, or artillery pie ...

s, and secondary armament was twelve QF 4.7-inch guns and four

QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval gun The QF 12-pounder 12-cwt gun (Quick-Firing) (abbreviated as Q.F. 12-pdr. 2-cwt. was a common, versatile calibre naval gun introduced in 1894 and used until the middle of the 20th century.

s. ''Tone'' also had three deck-mounted

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s. However, the foremost of the 4.7-inch secondary guns were located in a cramped location with a very limited field of fire, and were soon removed and not replaced. After World War I, two anti-aircraft guns were added just aft of the first smokestack. ''Tone'' utilized Krupp armor with a thickness of on the decks, and on the

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn (nautical), conn (conduct or control) the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for t ...

. The design did not incorporate any side armor. ''Tone'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 27 November 1905 at the

, 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 Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, as part of the coronation celebration for

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

together with the cruiser ''Kurama''. In

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, ''Tone'' was assigned to the Japanese 2nd Fleet, and fought in the

Battle of Tsingtao The siege of Tsingtao (; ; zh, s=青岛战役, t=青島戰役) was the attack on the German port of Qingdao (Tsingtao) from Jiaozhou Bay during World War I by Japan and the United Kingdom. The siege was waged against Imperial Germany between 2 ...

against the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy) was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for ...

. Afterwards, she was reassigned to the Japanese Third Fleet, and was based out of

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, from whence she patrolled the

sea lanes A sea lane, sea road or shipping lane is a regularly used navigable route for large water vessels (ships) on wide waterways such as oceans and large lakes, and is preferably safe, direct and economic. During the Age of Sail, they were determined ...

in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

and also occasionally in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

against German

commerce raider Commerce raiding is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging its combatants or enforcing a blockade against them. Privateering is a fo ...

s and

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

s, as part of Japan's contribution to the Allied war effort under the

Anglo-Japanese Alliance The was an alliance between the United Kingdom and the Empire of Japan which was effective from 1902 to 1923. The treaty creating the alliance was signed at Lansdowne House in London on 30 January 1902 by British foreign secretary Lord Lans ...

. Between 1924 and 1929, ''Tone'' served as a station ship on the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

around

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. She was transferred to the reserves at

Sasebo Naval District was the third of five main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included the western and southern coastline of Kyūshū, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan and Korea, as well as patrols in the East China Sea and t ...

on 30 November 1929. Stricken from the

navy list A Navy Directory, Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a co ...

on 1 April 1931, and renamed ''Haikan No 2'', the ship was expended as an aircraft target off

Amami Ōshima , also known as Amami, is the largest island in the Amami Islands, Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawa. It is one of the Satsunan Islands, all of which belong to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, 712.35 ...

on 30 April 1933.Howarth, ''The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun''

Notes

References

* * * * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tone Cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1907 ships Ships built by Sasebo Naval Arsenal World War I cruisers of Japan Maritime incidents in 1933 Shipwrecks in the East China Sea Cruisers sunk by aircraft as targets Ships sunk by Japanese aircraft