Chikuma (筑摩) was the second and last vessel in the Tone class of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was named after the Chikuma River in Nagano Prefecture. Entering service in 1939, Chikuma saw battle during World War II in the Pacific, hunting small allied ships in the Indian Ocean and serving in many escorting missions throughout many large-scale aircraft carrier battles between Japan and the United States. On 25 October 1944, she served in the Battle off Samar where she damaged the destroyer USS Heermann before being crippled by gunfire from the destroyer escort USS Samuel B. Roberts and sunk by air attacks.