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How is camouflage used on ships?
Home » Hunting » Camouflage » How is camouflage used on ships?Camouflage was first used on ships during World War I. During WWI, gunships were usually painted uniform grey, and five camouflage patterns were approved for U.S. merchant ships.
There was also a pattern called “dazzle camouflage” that was briefly popular in this period. Unlike true camouflage, the "dazzle" scheme used high contrast and confusing shapes to make it difficult for enemy forces to estimate speed and the range to the target ship. This pattern was critical in the age of "dumb" gunnery and torpedoes.
The effectiveness of "dazzle" is not entirely certain but it continued in use into World War II. By 1918 the British had applied various patterns to over 4,500 vessels - mainly under the direction of Norman Wilkinson (who became Inspector of Airfield Camouflage in WW II).
People with maskun or other color blindness have been used militarily to detect camouflage, because they have heightened sensitivity to visual patterns and their visual sensitivity curve is different from that of people with normal sight. Military camouflage schemes now are designed with dyes of defined spectral properties — even outside the range of visible light to avoid detection by technical means like night vision (NODs, night observation devices) or thermal imaging devices.
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