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Persons who have been watching the results of attempts to disguise the outward appearance of warships have become convinced (says the Coast Seaman's Journal) that the destroyer fleet, lately the subject of the ship painter's efforts, has become practically invisible at sea, not only to the naked eye, but to strong binoculars as well. "Battleship gray" has had its day. It was better than the glaring ultra-prominent white that once made the American Navy the marksman's favorite target, but it was far from the last word in invisibility, for it has recently been proved that:
A solid color of any kind can be distinguished at sea, whereas a mottled surface, like the surrounding water itself, breaking up into lights and shades, will make almost any bulk invisible at a distance proportionate to size. Abbott H. Thayer, an Englishman [sic], who studied the colorations of wild animals, and particularly water-fowl, noting at what distance their color enabled them to become invisible to the naked eye and under glass, and who is said to have taught Theodore Roosevelt much that he knows on the subject of invisible animals, is largely responsible for the Navy's taking up the problem. Thayer conducted a series of experiments in the Navy Department a year ago and demonstrated that under certain conditions the model of a torpedo-boat painted by him could not be seen while a similar vessel painted battle-gray was plainly visible.
At Newport the destroyers have been painted in numerous ways to test their visibility. Some of them have been painted like checker-boards, in alternate squares of black and white, but the most elusive combination discovered to date consists of horizontal, irregular, serpentine lines of black paint along the sides of the destroyers with a background of battle-gray. The serpentine curves correspond substantially to the waves of the sea, and the mixed colors conform in part to the mottled surface of the water. The funnels, on the other hand, are painted in irregular spirals, and it is said the destroyers painted in this way are more nearly invisible close at hand than at a greater distance.
As soon as the problem is solved to the satisfaction of the naval authorities a scheme for painting the battleships will be worked out for use in time of war. It is already reported in this country that the British Navy has ships painted in all sorts of colors on patrol duty in and around the North Sea, and that the plan has worked with great success. Thayer evolved a plan of covering up funnels and fighting tops with a series of planes intended to reflect the color of the sky, but the plan has not been found entirely practicable, for the reason that the roll of the ship destroyed the reflection intended and at times made the vessels more prominent to the eye than before, and also because the winds frequently made their use impossible altogether.
Another experiment being conducted by the Navy is one intended to make periscopes invisible. While they are practically so now, the wake they leave behind them can always be detected because it runs in a straight line of foam.
