The Mauritania, Dec. 2, 1918. (Library of Congress)
The Mauritania, Dec. 2, 1918. (Library of Congress)
Then, in late 1917, something peculiar started happening on the high seas. When U-Boat crew members swiveled their periscopes toward enemy vessels, they discovered the ships had morphed into Cubist artworks. The experiment was called “dazzle camouflage,” and was masterminded by British lieutenant Norman Wilkinson, who also happened to be a talented painter. Although it was impossible to hide the hulking ships, Wilkinson theorized that they didn’t need to.
The wacky paint job made use of high-contrast shapes to obscure its edges, disguise the bow and stern, and confuse the enemy about the boat’s orientation and distance. The enemy navigator would then theoretically miscalculate where the U-Boat would need to relocate to be within firing range, and end up unable to damage the ship.
The USS West Mahomet in port, circa November 1918. (Library of Congress)
The HMS Argus, a British aircraft carrier, circa late 1918. An R class battleship is in the distance. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command)
The USS Siboney. The crew fires from the port side gun during target practice in August 1918. The stripes on its barrel are part of the ship’s dazzle camouflage pattern. (John G. Krieger/U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command)
The British steamship City of Glasgow, torpedoed in the Irish Sea on Sept. 1, 1918. Photographed from USS Beale, which rescued the crew before the steamer sank at 2:40 p.m. Note the ship’s dazzle camouflage. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command)
The USS Siboney. (John G. Krieger)
The USS Alloway, an American freighter, during builder’s trials on July 5, 1918, probably in San Francisco Bay, California. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command)
After the United States entered the war, it similarly experimented on thousands of ships with defensive paint schemes, calling its version “razzle dazzle.” One type, the “Mackay Low Visibility System,” was based on the idea that such high contrast would be so overwhelming to the optic nerves that the ship would not even be perceived, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command. The most popular tactic involved painting a wave on the side of ships to deceive the enemy about which direction the boat is going. Increasing the size of the painted wave could also give the impression that the ship was smaller than it actually was. A wide variety of patterns was necessary to keep the captains from learning them, according to “A Genius for Deception: How Cunning Helped the British Win Two World Wars.”
Outfitting a ship with painted camouflage was relatively inexpensive and convenient. Each shipping port was outfitted with a crew of four to five camofleurs that made the transformation possible within a day, said Claudia Covert of the Rhode Island School of Design.
It’s hard to say how effective dazzle camouflage really was, because it was often implemented in concert with other defensive features. After the war ended, sensor technology and optics improved so boats were repainted, and now the photographs are all that remain.
The USS Leviathan while in dry dock, painted in dazzle camouflage. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command)
Workers make models of merchant ships and warships, for testing new patterns of dazzle painting or other camouflage. A chart in the background shows various ship silhouettes. This photograph is dated Feb. 10, 1919, but is believed to have been taken at least several months earlier. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command)
A variety of camouflage patterns. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command)
The USS Leviathan at a pier in Hoboken, N.J., on April 19, 1918. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command)
Models of the British passenger liner Mauritania demonstrate the effects of dazzle camouflage in comparison with a plain gray color scheme in 1918. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command)
The USS Wakulla at a wharf with its crew members, possibly when the ship was first commissioned in June 1918. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command)
May-Ying Lam is a photo editor at The Washington Post.
