Francis Thomas Butler Tower

Vice-Admiral SIR Francis Thomas Butler Tower, K.B.E., C.B., Royal Navy (21 December, 1885 – 19 July, 1964) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

Born in London, the son of F. F. Tower, Esq., B.A..

Tower served in the battleship Canopus and the armoured cruiser Good Hope before being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 15 April, 1906.

He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander on 15 April, 1914. Early in the Great War, he was at H.M.S. Excellent, working in the Experimental Works, and was in command of her tender, Kite from June 1913 to 12 April, 1915.

Tower served as Gunnery Officer in Barham from 15 April, 1915 to 21 November, 1918. He was then appointed as the gunnery officer in Hood when she commissioned, being superseded there on 20 August, 1920.

On 16 May, 1927 he was appointed in command of the light cruiser Curacoa as Flag Captain.

He was appointed in command of the battlecruiser Hood on 30 August, 1933.

Tower was placed on the Retired List on 29 June, 1939. He was reactivated later that very year for a short stint on the Landing Craft Committee.

On 8 January, 1945, Tower was appointed to serve in the rank of Rear Admiral as Flag Officer in Command, Southampton, vice James Murray Pipon.

He reverted to the Retired List on 30 March, 1946.

Bibliography

• "Sir Thomas Tower" (Obituaries). The Times. Tuesday, 21 July, 1964. Issue 56069, col E, pg. 12.

Service Record

• Service Records

Naval Appointments
Preceded by Geoffrey Blake	Captain of H.M.S. Kite 25 Apr, 1913 – 12 Apr, 1915	Succeeded by Reginald F. P. Maton
Preceded by Alan R. Dewar	Fleet Gunnery Officer, Atlantic Fleet 15 Aug, 1922	Succeeded by Eric W. W. Ling
Preceded by Julian F. C. Patterson	Assistant Director of Naval Ordnance 18 Aug, 1924 – 23 Mar, 1927	Succeeded by Edward O. Priestley
Preceded by Douglas B. Le Mottée	Captain of H.M.S. Vindictive 16 May, 1927 – 16 May, 1929	Succeeded by Lancelot E. Holland
Preceded by Cecil B. Prickett	Captain of H.M.S. Curacoa 16 May, 1927 – 16 May, 1929	Succeeded by Harold G. C. Franklin
Preceded by Stephen St. L. Moore	Captain of Chatham Gunnery School 10 Jun, 1929 – 30 Mar, 1931	Succeeded by Arthur N. Dowding
Preceded by Thomas H. Binney	Captain of H.M.S. Hood 30 Aug, 1933 – 1 Feb, 1936	Succeeded by A. Francis Pridham
Preceded by St. Aubyn B. Wake	Director of Naval Equipment 10 Dec, 1936 – 27 Aug, 1939	Succeeded by James W. S. Dorling
Preceded by James M. Pipon	Flag Officer in Command, Southampton 8 Jan, 1945	Succeeded by ?