A couple of years ago I wrote about how women helped with camouflage in Word War One.Today I want to go into a little greater detail about one aspect of that.
When the US entered the Great War as a combatant her armed forces were not fully prepared. Troops needed to mobilized (drafted) and trained. Weapons,and ammunition needed to be manufactured. Ships needed to be built. Local boards were established to select men for military service. Each board was assigned a quota, usually based on the number of people living in their area. New York City had a population back then of about 6 1/2 million. But the numbers needed to volunteer were falling far short of what was needed. The mayor, John P Mitchell, came up with an idea (possibly with some outside help). The city would build a giant recruiting station for the Navy in the shape of a wooden dummy battleship. Union Square in Manhattan was selected as the location. A pair of architects drew up plans to make a battleship out of wood, similar to an actual vessel, and use it to promote volunteers to join the service. The model was erected in a very short time. It was “officially” commissioned as USS Recruit. An active duty senior naval officer was given command. He had a staff of other officers, including a doctor and a paymaster. Several dozen sailors were assigned, also. The crew actually lived in a barracks that was built inside the dummy battleship. They engaged in a regular shipboard routine that included guard duty, gun drills, and even washing uniforms. Part of the crew was directly involved in signing up new men for service. There were recruiting offices erected in huts along side the “ship”.
The USS Recruit became a site for ceremonies, too. There were dances, and war bond fund-raisers held on board. There was a boxing match. Visiting VIPS, including the commander of a Canadian highlander regiment , in kilts, were hosted. Local papers featured these events. Many volunteers came to the “ship” and signed on to join the navy. In short, the idea was successful.
But, as any advertising professional will tell you, you have to keep the public interested. One of the ways selected to do this, based on the recommendation of the then commander of the “ship”, CDR W. T. Conn, USN, was to repaint the entire ship in a sort of dazzle camouflage. That kind of camouflage was already being applied to American ships as part of an effort to foil the depredations of German U-boats. Camouflaging USS Recruit needed to be a special event.
A design for the camouflage was prepared in the offices of the New York Branch of the camouflage division of the US Shipping Board. It was said that the design was created by the head of that office, Mr William A Mackay. One of his assistants, Worden Wood, supervised the actual painting. Wood went on to become a noted painter after the war. Another notable artist, LCDR Henry Reutendahl, USNRF, also took part. He was, at that time, responsible for the design of recruitment posters at Navy Headquarters in Washington. The actual work of applying the paint was done by a branch of the Volunteer Women’s Camouflage Corps. Twenty four women, commanded by Capt Myra Hanford, climbed the scaffolding wearing dungaree work uniforms. Each one had a bucket of a specific color. The pattern had been marked out using chalk on the exposed parts of the “ship”. Each area was also labeled with the color to be used. This was the same procedure the Shipping Board camofleurs used when painting actual ships. The finished job was a crazy pattern of Black, White, Blue, pink, and Green that cut across all the normal lines of the vessel at odd angles. USS Recruit was so good at her job that the Navy kept her active until 1920, long after the guns had gone silent in Europe. She was given a real decommissioning ceremony. The parts were carefully dismantled and set aside with a plan to have her rebuilt as a tourist attraction in the Coney Island Luna Park. The plan was never carried out. All that remains are the photographs, some of which I have included here. Most come from the collections held by the National Archives in College Park, MD and Washington, DC.
Wetherhorn 