her wooden deck on fire. However, in the meantime, the Americans located the Japanese fleet, and Ryūjō was sunk by planes from the carrier . Tone was attacked unsuccessfully by two Avengers whose Mark 13 torpedoes missed, returning to Truk safely. Battle of Santa Cruz Through October, Chikuma and Tone patrolled north of the Solomon Islands, awaiting word of recapture of Henderson Field by the Japanese. On 19 October, Tone (with the destroyer ) was detached on an independent mission to scout for American ships. Both ships operated off the Santa Cruz Islands until a Kawanishi H6K "Emily" from Jaluit Atoll sighted a carrier off the New Hebrides. On 26 October 1942, northeast of Guadalcanal, Rear Admiral Hiroaki Abe's task force launched seven floatplanes to scout south of Guadalcanal. They located the American fleet, and Abe followed with an attack by carrier planes which sank the carrier and damaged the battleship and cruiser . However, two of the four aircraft launched by Tone during the attack were shot down. Tone supported Japanese reinforcement efforts at Guadalcanal through mid-November 1942, and was then assigned to patrols from its base in Truk through mid-February 1943. After returning to Maizuru for refit on 21 February, two additional twin-mount Type 96 25-mm AA guns were installed along with a Type 21 air-search radar. On 15 March 1943 Rear Admiral Kishi Fukuji assumed command of CruDiv 8, and Tone was ordered back to Truk. However, on 17 May, Chikuma and Tone were tasked to accompany battleship back to Tokyo for the state funeral of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Tone was back in Truk by 15 July, having avoided numerous submarine attacks along the route. From July to November, Tone was engaged in making troop transport runs to Rabaul, and to patrols of the Marshall Islands in unsuccessful pursuit of the American fleet. While back at Kure on 6 November, Tone gained additional 25-mm AA guns, bringing its total to 20. CruDiv 8 was disbanded on 1 January 1944, and both Tone and Chikuma were reassigned to CruDiv 7 (with Suzuya and Kumano) under Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura. Tone returned to Truk on 2 January. In February, Tone assisted with the evacuation of Japanese forces from Truk to Palau. From 1 March 1944, Tone was assigned to commerce raiding in the Indian Ocean. On 9 March, Tone sank the British freighter , taking aboard 108 survivors against