0 a structure on top of a submarine (= a ship that can travel underwater) or, in the past, a military ship, from which the ship can be controlled and that contains a periscope (= a device for seeing what is above you):
I could clearly make out the shape of the submarine with its conning tower.
The only entrance to the submersible was a sixteen-inch hatch in the conning tower.
In the final instance he reported that he also saw the conning tower of a surfaced submarine approximately half a mile away.
He promptly stepped on board and knocked on the conning tower.
There was a sudden uprush of air and smoke through the conning tower hatch and survivors started to escape.
There are still two other hatches to be examined, namely, the lower conning tower hatch and the hatch leading from inside the hangar into the submarine.
