A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and ground tackle. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility of the entirety of the ship, ocean conditions, and other vessels. The naval term "conn" may derive from the Middle English conne (study, become acquainted with) or French conduire from Latin conducere (conduct). Surface ships On surface ships, the conning tower was a feature of all battleships and armoured cruisers from about 1860 to the early years of World War II. Located at the front end of the superstructure, the conning tower was a heavily armored cylinder, with tiny slit windows on three sides providing a reasonable field of view. Designed to shield just enough personnel and devices for navigation during battles, its interior was cramped and basic, with little more than engine order telegraphs, speaking tubes or telephones, and perhaps a steering wheel. At all other times than during battles, the ship would be commanded and helmed from the bridge. Conning towers were used by the French on their floating batteries at the Battle of Kinburn. They were then fitted to the first ironclad the . The first Royal Navy (RN) conning tower appeared on which had 3 inches of armour. In the Royal Navy, the conning tower became a massive structure reaching weights of hundreds of tons on the s (such as ), and formed part of a massive armoured citadel (superstructure) on the mid-1920s s, which had armour over a foot thick. The , in contrast to the Nelson class, had comparatively light conning tower protection with sides, front and rear, and roof and deck. The RN's analysis of World War I combat revealed that command personnel were unlikely to use an armoured conning tower, preferring the superior visibility of unarmoured bridge positions. Older RN battleships that were reconstructed with new superstructures had their heavily armoured conning towers removed and replaced with much lighter structures. These new conning towers were also placed much higher in the ship, for superior visibility. There is no evidence that RN captains and admirals used the armoured conning towers on those ships that did have them during World War II,