Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Dazzle camouflage of warships was adopted by the U.S. Navy during World War II, following research at the Naval Research Laboratory.Dazzle consists in painting obtrusive patterns on vertical surfaces.
Often a pattern designed for one ship type would be adapted to another, so that, for example, the battleship North Carolina wore an adaptation of Measure 32/18D, originally a destroyer pattern. [13] [23] Some patterns could be used as Measure 31, 32 or 33 depending on the paints chosen; these were listed as, e.g., MS-3_/6D. [13]
Dazzle consists in painting obtrusive patterns on vertical surfaces. Unlike some other forms of camouflage, dazzle works not by offering concealment but by making it difficult to estimate a target's range, speed and heading. Each ship's dazzle pattern was unique to make it more difficult for the enemy to recognize different classes of ships.
Dazzle, Sumrall argued, was intended to make that hard, as clashing patterns looked abnormal even when the two halves were aligned, something that became more important when submarine periscopes included such rangefinders. Patterns sometimes also included a false bow wave to make it difficult for an enemy to estimate the ship's speed. [21]
HMT Aquitania wearing dazzle camouflage. Patterned ship camouflage was pioneered in Britain. Early in the First World War, the zoologist John Graham Kerr advised Winston Churchill to use disruptive camouflage to break up ships' outlines, and countershading to make them appear less solid, [14] following the American artist Abbott Handerson Thayer's beliefs.
The first ironclad battleship, with iron armour over a wooden hull, La Gloire, was launched by the French Navy in 1859 [6] prompting the British Royal Navy to build a counter. The following year they launched HMS Warrior , which was twice the size and had 4.5 inches of wrought iron armour (with 18 inches of teak wood backing) over an iron hull.
Discover the best free online games at AOL.com - Play board, card, casino, puzzle and many more online games while chatting with others in real-time.
The term "fast battleship" was applied to new designs in the early 1910s incorporating propulsion technology that allowed for higher speeds without sacrificing armour protection. The US Navy began introducing fast battleships into service following the Second London Naval Treaty of 1936, with a total of ten across three classes entering service.