RN Ship Camouflage in WWI

Lieutenant Commander Norman Wilkinson RNVR is widely regarded as the originator of disruptive ship camouflage (often called ‘razzle-dazzle”) He led the Royal Navy team that designed patterns for painting on ships. A similar team was created by the French Navy., and is shown separately.

The key to Wilkinsons approach was to recognize that camouflage for a ship at sea in order to conceal its’ presence was not possible, but confusing the submarine of that era regarding the course and/or speed of its’ target was very likely to cause a torpedo to miss.

Wilkinson organized a team of artists to design confusing, high contrast, geometric patterns and to supervise applying them to actual ships.

Most Royal Navy warships did not receive the patterns because the commanders feared the camouflage would be effective, and lead to collisions between ships sailing , and manoeuvring in close proximity.

The design process included painting new designs on small wooden models and testing them in a visual laboratory. A number of female art students were employed to copy the designs and make working plans for distribution to shipyards and ports where teams of painters would actually paint the designs. The first step was normally to sketch the outline of each area of color using ordinary chalk. The actual painters applied the proper colors to each area.

When the first American Navy ships arrived in Europe they were painted in overall solid grey. The RN team quickly prepared disruptive designs for them, Other US Navy vessels that arrived later came already painted with American designs. The first section below shows designs for American ships, either as models, or designs, taken from the published holdings of the Imperial War Museum. Not all the patterns were actually used. I have followed the patterns with photographs of the camouflaged ships when possible.

American Coast Guard cutters:

USS ALGONQUIN

USS YAMACRAW

USS TAMPA

TAMPA was torpedoed and sunk by UB-91. I am not certain she was camouflaged at that time.

American Patrol Yachts

Prior to America becoming a belligerent the U S Navy had begun registering civilian vessels for potential use in war.

Among the vessels registered were several large private yachts that were considered candidates for conversion to anti-submarine escorts. A number of these were either purchased, donated, or leased for war service. Th yachts were quickly stripped of their luxurious fittings (which were stored so they could be returned after the war in their near-original condition) and fitted with weapons, extra communications facilities, and added accommodations for an enlarged crew. Several were ready for action in a short time. They were sent to Europe to reinforce the anti-submarine patrols and escort convoys. Some even took aboard extra slate grey paint to touch up their newly applied colors. But when they arrived, the Royal Navy rapidly prepared and applied new disruptive camouflage schemes for them. Many vessels of The Second division of the Atlantic Fleet Patrol Force .received these British designs.

USS Kanawha II (SP-130, later renamed Piqua0 = IWM MOD 2436