orders. Of the survivors, 32 were disembarked as prisoners of war at Batavia. Admiral Naomasa Sakonju aboard the cruiser , ordered that the remaining prisoners be "disposed of", and they were taken out to sea and beheaded. (Following the war, Sakonju was executed for war crimes, including the murder of these prisoners, while the former commander of Tone, Captain Haruo Mayazumi, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment.) On 20 March 1944, Rear Admiral Kazutaka Shiraishi assumed command of CruDiv 7. Battle of the Philippine Sea On 13 June 1944, Admiral Soemu Toyoda activated "Operation A-GO" for the defense of the Mariana Islands. Tone was assigned to Force "C" of Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's Mobile Fleet, which proceeded through the Visayan Sea to the Philippine Sea headed towards Saipan. On 20 June, after the battleships , and carrier were attacked by aircraft from the carriers , and and the bulk of the Japanese air cover was destroyed in the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot", Tone retired with the Mobile Fleet to Okinawa, and from there to Kure. While at Kure from 26 June to 8 July 1944, Tone gained additional Type 96 25-mm AA, bringing its total to 57. Two new Type 22 surface-search radars and a Type 13 air-search radar were also fitted. After ferrying army troops to Okinawa, Tone was reassigned back to Singapore in July. Battle of Leyte Gulf On 23 October 1944, Tone along with the cruisers Kumano, Suzuya and Chikuma, sortied from Brunei towards the Philippines with Admiral Takeo Kurita's First Mobile Striking Force. The battle group was attacked by submarines while sailing through the Palawan Passage. The cruisers Atago and Maya were sunk, and Takao was damaged. As the force entered the Sibuyan Sea on 24 October, the Center Force suffered eleven raids by aircraft from the carriers of Task Group 38.2. Musashi was sunk and Tone was hit by bombs. The following day during the Battle off Samar, the battleships , , Haruna and the cruiser were damaged. Tone engaged the American destroyer but was driven away by air attack. She escaped back through the San Bernardino Strait without further damage, but Tones sister ship Chikuma was lost, along with the cruisers and Suzuya. Drydock and use as a training ship On 6 November, Tone departed Brunei towards Manila, and onward to Mako in the Pescadores and Kure. Back in dry dock in Maizuru, Tone