So how does one go about camouflaging a ship during wartime?
That was the question that troubled Britain during World War 1.
Germanys U-boats were creating havoc in the Atlantic sinking merchant ships in alarming numbers.
Dazzle camouflage on a World War 2-era ship.
Bold shapes at the bow and stern can make it difficult to tell apart one from the other.
The illusion is furthered by angled lines that make the smokestacks seem to be leaning in another direction.
These two images demonstrate how dazzle camouflage can throw off a submarine commander’s senses.
Original WW1 ship models painted to test dazzle camouflage schemes.
Photo: Imperial War Museum
Wilkinson developed hundreds of camouflage schemes.
Wilkinson even impressed King George V using one of these models.
Artists of the Royal Academy of Arts applying paint on model warships.
Photo: National Archives and Records Administration
An artist testing a model vessel covered with dazzle camouflage.
The Americans also adopted dazzle patterns for camouflage, painting some 1,200 merchant vessels with Wilkinsons design.
Statistically, it is hard to say whether dazzle camouflage worked.
But camouflage on aircraft was found to be less effective.
A merchant ship sporting dazzle camouflage, in Wellington, New Zealand.
Photo: Imperial War Museum
Vintage Postcard of the U.S.S.
Leviathan Painted With A World War I “Dazzle” Camouflage Pattern.
Photo:Joe Haupt/Flickr
USS West Mahomet in port, circa November 1918.
