Thursday, March 25, 2021

the most delirious dazzle camouflage patterns of all

Above John Everett, paintings of World War I dazzle-painted British ships (c1919), issued as postcards after the war. Collection of Roy R. Behrens (gift of Les Coleman).

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Clair Price, THE CONVOY in Gundagai Independent and Pastoral, Agricultural and Mining Advocate (New South Wales), May 1, 1919—

Before the war, [the old ship] he adored had been a rusty tramp. Now she had a few shiny new rivets under a naval gun aft, and she was held together by some of the most delirious dazzle-paint that green hills ever blinked upon. She was purple waves. She was black freckles on a white background. Even her name was gone. Only her red ensign and the smudge of her Welsh coal remained.…

Marine camouflage is, at best, an experiment. It is not only intended to obscure the course and the distance of a vessel, but also to deprive the enemy of the straight lines of a vessel on which he has been accustomed to range. At the last-named purpose it is a distinctive success, but I have yet to find a naval officer to admit the usefulness of its success.