Artist's impression of a dazzled convoy lit by moonlight, circa 1918. To this end, Wilkinson's "dazzle camouflage" patterns would incorporate large blocks of contrasting colors (like black and white, green and mauve, orange and blue), in geometric shapes, curves, and other shapes to make it more difficult to determine the vessel's shape, size, and most importantly heading. A miscalculation of only 8 to 10 degrees would be enough. So, any strategy to throw their aim off, even slightly, would give the target ship a fighting chance of surviving the encounter. They were very expensive pieces of equipment too, and very slow once launched. Gunners had to get it right, as each U-boat only carried around 12 torpedoes per vessel. Not only that, but all calculations would need to be made within 30 seconds, as any longer and the periscope could be spotted by enemy warships - betraying the presence and location of the U-boat. Navy/cimsecĪll this from a distance from further than 6,200 ft (1,900 m) and no less than 1000 ft (300 m). Artist's impression of the difference in appearance of ships from a periscope's perspective. Once the torpedo was launched, the hope was that torpedo and ship would meet at the same location at the same time, seconds to minutes in the future.
They effectively needed to " lead the target" but with torpedoes rather than bullets. U-boats and other submarines, would need to know the ship's size, speed, distance, and direction at a particular moment and then predict where it would be in the future. Source: Unknown/Wikimedia CommonsĪt the time, hitting ships with torpedoes was almost more of an art form than an exact science. The RMS Titanic's sister ship RMS Olympic in dazzle camouflage. Sometimes also called razzle-dazzle, if the camouflage could cause even the slightest error in judgement when calculating the U-boat's torpedo firing solution, their toropedoes would either completely miss the target, or would strike the ships in less critical locations. The idea was, rather than hiding the ship from view, to confuse (or dazzle, hence the name) U-boat officers when peering at the vessel through their periscopes, making it more difficult to judge speed and distance. He would, in essence, turn the ships into a seemingly mad artist's blank canvas. His idea was to cover the hulls of ships with vibrant sripes, swirls, and other irregular shapes, akin to the very best cubist art works of the day. While it sounds like he may have completely misundestood the concept of camouflage, his idea would catch on, and, as it turns out, was a stroke of genius. A painter, graphic designer and newspaper illustrator by trade, this young man came iup with a very new and seemingly counterintuitive idea - make the ships stand out! Enter Royal Navy volutneer reserve lieutenant Norman Wilkinson. Unlike his other inventions, this idea didn't work very well.ĭespite the range of ideas, nothing seemed to work. Thomas Edison actually proposed just that for American warships of the day. Various ideas were proposed, ranging from disguising ships as whales, cladding them in highly-reflective mirrors, or even, amazingly, attempting to camouflage ships as islands. The logic behind the use of dazzle camouflage. Not only that, but merchant ships and warships are very large, and they also tended to belch out quite a lot of smoke from their stacks when underway. At sea, however, things were very different. One option was to attempt to camouflage ships - a tactic that proved to be very effective on land. This was widely seen as a tragedy and an outrage, as she was clearly marked, in accordance with the Hague Convention.īetween March and December of 1917, British ships of all kinds were sunk, at a rate of 23 a week. A hospital ship, she was torpedoed by the German U-boat SM UB-40 on the 17th of April 1917, killing 34 (including 15 wounded Germans). The first casualty was the HMHS Lanfranc, in the English Channel. The problem was compounded when, in January of 1917, The German Kaiser declared all-out unrestricted submarine warfare on any ship that came within the sights of German U-boats. Over the course of the war, U-boats sank, or put out of action somewhere in the region 5,700 vessels, and killed more than 12,700 non-combatants. HMS West Mahomet in dazzle camouflage, circa 1918. These vessels would take their toll on the Royal Navy, and the British merchant fleet, over the course of war.
Suddenly the warships of the Royal Navy would have to contend with a new, and deadly enemy - German U-boats.
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