Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Removing the Crazy Quilt Camouflage Coat

Charles Grave in Punch (1918)
Above Cartoon by Charles L. Grave (aka Chas) in Punch, July 17, 1918, p. 43. The caption reads: Skipper of Tug (to careless hand): "Ho! So you've caught the blinkin' cammy-flarge 'abit, 'ave year?"

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Anon, in the Barry Dock News, December 19, 1918, p. 8—

Signs of peace are becoming more evident every day. The steamer Island Liard, lying at Barry Docks, is the first ship in Barry to have the old funnel colors, which were obliterated during the war, repainted. The camouflage is also being done away with on many ships.

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 Anon, WOODEN SHIPS TO BE BLACK: Gray Paint To Be Exhausted By Builders First, However, in the Sunday Oregonian (Portland OR), March 16, 1919, p. 20—

…The painting features of wooden ship contracts have undergone changes since the war started. Inasmuch as it was first prescribed that the hulls have three coats of gray paint, while soon after the foremost members of the fleet were afloat the shipping board ordered camouflage designs to be added, that being substituted for the third  coat [of gray]. The lack of positive knowledge that German raiders in the Pacific had all been disposed of and the chance that wooden ships might operate in the Atlantic were responsible for the camouflage. With the signing of the armistice, the "crazy quilt" coat was left off and plain gray provided.

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 Anon, REMOVING THE CAMOUFLAGE in the South Wales Weekly Post, April 26, 1919, p. 4—

Many of the boats detained in Swansea Docks owing to the strike are seizing the opportunity of removing the weird camouflage colors of wartime, and are once more resuming a respectable appearance.