""Dazzle Ships" book, Roy Behrens" Topic

I've just picked up a copy of this book (Bobolink Publishing online). It is a collection of articles about dazzle camouflage mostly written by the camouflage artists just after the close of WW1, documenting the theory and practice of dazzle camouflage and similar ship camouflage techniques. Numerous illustrations, sadly in black and white (after all, that is what the originals are).

Granted these are all written by the proponents of ship camouflage, but their presentation of the visually impact of the camouflage, and the concepts behind them, are intriguing.

This topic has been discussed in TMP before, but seeing as the large scale implementation of camouflage was done at approximately the same time as the general employment of convoys, is it possible that camouflage had a material contribution to the defense of merchant and large naval ships in the last year or two of the war?

I'm thinking of diving back into Paul Halpern's figures for submarine losses in WWI. Halpern does not seem to mention the ship camouflage effort in UK and US.

I'll have to take a look at the book – thanks for making me aware of it. Frankly, I love the way dazzle paint looks so much, I'd probably fall right in with the slant of the artists.

Doug

Doug --
Well, with you, Mr. Behrens, and myself, there's at least 3 of us.

I'd say that the issue of effectiveness comes down to two things.

1) The paint scheme is effective for the conditions for which it was painted. Having tried to spot boats and ships at sea myself, I can assure you that it is difficult. And some of the striking camo jobs that are designed to make a ship look smaller by painting a smaller light silhouette upon it and a few others I just don't see how they can NOT work. I also like the fake bow waves, etc.

2) The paint schemes aren't always in ideal conditions!

This is why sci-fi books usually have some sort of adaptive camo on vehicles and even people in the far future. You basically need camo that changes as you move along.

But the bottom line? It looks cool, so paint it on those models!

My error again. The correct title is "Ship Shape".

Going to have to add that one to my list of wants, then.

I love the way the Dazzle schemes look.

I like it looks good on a wargaming table – so much so I painted my orc ships for Uncharted Seas in something approximating Dazzle….

I have David Williams "Naval Camouflage 1914-1945: A Complete Visual Reference" published by Chatham.. it's a superb reference covering all of the British, US, German, Italian and Japanese schemes, and those of other allies. I've just noticed a copy on Amazon for £2,000.00 GBP – must be a mistake!