JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
- A Note on “Hiding” in Plain Site: Razzle Dazzle Camouflage, 1917-1918 https://historyofideasblog.com/thesciencebookstore/2015/02/a-note-on-hiding-in-plain-site-razzle-dazzle-camouflage-1917-1918.html
This is just a short note on an unexpected piece of wartime development that I stumbled up leafing through the Illustrated London News for 1916. It seems offhand that this sort of deception wouldn’t be very deceiving for very long–this painted bow wave was intended to create the illusion of speed to a watching U-boat and thus throw off the calculations for the launch of a torpedo. I haven’t seen images like this very often at all–especially compared to other sorts of camouflage for ships–so I’m guessing that it was not a reliable way of fooling the hunting sub. That said I have seen it more on U.S. ships leading up to WWII, but not very much…
And the detail: