Father Kit Cool Gun Garth Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 (edited) No, this is not some crazy art project funded by Picasso, dazzle camouflage was an actual military camouflage for thousands of ships during WWI and WWII. It actually increased chances of the ships getting spotted… But helped the ships survive. The trick of this camouflage was to create an optical illusion that would confuse potential “hunters” in terms of the heading and exact speed of the ship, causing shells and torpedoes to miss. The extreme contrast between black and white used on most “dazzle ships”, against each other and the blue sea, helped with the illusion, which utilized these high contrasted stripes to completely fool the eye at certain angles, and at others throw it off course. Source: Wikipedia. Observe that the ship is exactly the same, but the optical illusion confuses us, and the bow of the left ship appears to be pointed straight at us, while in reality the ship would be steaming in a different direction. Though the effects of this illusion seems small, remember that ships are almost always firing at each other from miles away, and a small misjudgment could result in a gap of many hundreds of meters. The effectiveness of dazzle camouflage in WWI is undoubted. This is a ship with a false bow wave. Nothing much, but the wave makes the ship seem like it’s moving even when it’s still, or faster than it actually is. Interesting, no? Edited August 13 by Father Kit Cool Gun Garth correct placement of pics 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 Would this design be a problem? Or just leave the captain studying his periscope longer? 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson Haller Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 I read the design on the ships was called 'razzle dazzle' in the US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Zook Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 (edited) 6 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said: Would this design be a problem? Or just leave the captain studying his periscope longer? #1 - NO & I'll take option #2 Edited August 13 by Dr. Zook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_US_Navy_dazzle_camouflage_measures_31,_32_and_33:_battleships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_US_Navy_dazzle_camouflage_measures_31,_32_and_33:_aircraft_carriers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_US_Navy_dazzle_camouflage_measures_31,_32_and_33:_cruisers For the Brooklyn Class: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_US_Navy_dazzle_camouflage_measures_31,_32_and_33:_destroyers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Mark Flint #31954 LIFE Posted August 19 Share Posted August 19 I've been wearing dazzle camouflage to matches for the last decade or so, no one's seen me yet! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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