‘The carnage which would occur in action at unprotected guns has been described vividly by the author of In a Conning Tower.' Lord Brassey, The Times

In this short story, first published in 1891, Hugh Arnold Oakley-Forster describes a disastrous showdown between two of the most powerful sea-faring war machines of his day.

First published in Murray’s Magazine, it is a cleverly conceived, fictional account of a battle between two ironclads.

An early steam propelled war ship used in the latter part of the 19th Century, the ironclad changed naval warfare forever, and the advances in metallurgy and mechanics during Arnold-Forster’s day meant that for the first time in history, these revolutionary warships could be centrally directed from armoured conning towers.

Arnold-Forster waxes lyrical about the ‘hidden powers which the mind can hardly grasp’, all of which are ‘made subservient to his will, and his will alone’. He then goes on to give an impressively technical and involved account of an encounter between two ironclads which wield such power.

In Conning Tower is a prescient forecast of naval battle yet to come, told from the first person it narrates with convincing detail the disastrous outcome of the fictional battle and is a fascinating antique of maritime literature.

‘Some of us have read the very clever sketch of a naval engagement entitled ‘In a Conning Tower.’ The sudden destruction of the enemy’s ship by the ram is not an unfair picture of what may happen even to a 14,000-ton ship.’ Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, Late Chief Constructor of the Navy.

Hugh Arnold Oakley-Forster (1855 - 1909) was a British politician and writer, notably serving as Secretary of State for War in Balfour’s Conservative government until 1905. Since he was a boy Arnold-Forster had devoted himself to the detailed study of naval affairs and of warships. He loved the sea and spent his holidays cruising in a Thames barge. In 1884 he inspired the famous articles on The Truth about the Navy, which subsequently led to a large increase in Navy estimates under Gladstone and the endeavours of later governments to increase their Naval capabilities. He is praised by many for the remarkable technical knowledge demonstrated by In Conning Tower.

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