Tone was the lead ship of a class of two heavy cruisers serving in the IJN during the WWII. She was designed for long-range reconnaissance missions and scouting ahead for carrier formations using her complement of six floatplanes. Tone was armed with eight 20cm guns in four twin turrets, which were all located in the forecastle rather than being split by the conventional fore-aft-division - this was due to Tone's large flight deck and hangar facilities occupying much of the aft part of the ship. She also carried eight secondary guns and twelve torpedo tubes in four triple launchers. She was sunk by US air attack in shallow water, and was raised for scrap after the war.
With its combination of speed, accurate and effective firepower, and durability, a well played Tone is an intimidating opponent, and has enjoyed some notoriety as being wildly overpowered for its tier. Don't get cocky, though, as you still possess the weaknesses shared by all CAs. Aside from its upgrades which greatly improve the ship's offensive and defensive capabilities, the Tone has two unique strengths: The placement of its main guns, and the cavernous airplane capacity.
Unlike most ships, Tone's main guns are all clustered in the forecastle - that is, the front part of the ship. This allows them to fire with great accuracy without ever having to converge first, enabling you to put accurate gradual fire on anything within range. This also means that you cannot fire them directly behind you, but this isn't big of a handicap as the field of fire is still quite wide and it only takes a slight turn to bring whatever's chasing you to bear. You also have a secondary battery of two dual-purpose guns per side at your disposal. With the Tone you finally have the ability to use scout planes, which the ship can equip a staggering total of seven. Using these in concert with Tone's capabilities to support friendly capitals, pulverizing smaller ship classes, and waging guerrilla warfare is the core of the ship's gameplay.