![]() (Aidan Hall sent me a colorized photo which gives a great idea of how these ships would have looked in real life. ![]() If you compare the colored drawing with the black and white photograph of the ship "War Clover", you can get an idea of how much we are missing. Imagine sailing across the North Atlantic surrounded by dozens of brightly painted ships, each in different colors and patterns. People who witnessed convoys of dazzle painted ships reported that the scene was quite dramatic. It is unfortunate that there are no color photographs of these WWI ships. (Note that the designs for opposite sides of the ship can be quite different from one another.) Even the great passenger liners were camouflaged for the duration of the War. As the war progressed, standard patterns were devised and applied to large numbers of ships. Early in the war, designs were drawn for individual ships, with each ship having its own distinctive pattern (see the drawings at left). Biddle's thesis is available in the library of Hereford College of Arts, Hereford, Herefordshire, UK, 2008.Īrtists were enlisted to draw up the camouflage designs. Much poor reportage has been forthcoming on this assuming that the art movement of the time was responsible. Only after many trials of differing patterns and combination of colours did the Royal Navy go ahead with the dazzle idea. there is no connection to cubism nor to abstract artistic movements of the time such as Futurism and Vorticism. I have recently (2009) received conflicting information from Colin Biddle, who wrote his thesis on dazzle painting. UPDATE: Most references report that dazzle painting designs were derived from the artistic fashions of the time, particularly cubism. ![]() The British called this camouflage scheme "Dazzle Painting." The Americans called it "Razzle Dazzle." Instead of trying to conceal the ship, it simply broke up its lines and made it more difficult for the U-boat captain to determine the ship's course. A British artist and naval officer, Norman Wilkinson, promoted a new camouflage scheme. Any color scheme that was concealing in one situation was conspicuous in others. All attempts to camouflage ships at sea had failed, as the appearance of the sea and sky are always changing. During World War I, the British and Americans faced a serious threat from German U-boats, which were sinking allied shipping at a dangerous rate. ![]()
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