Junesix

“Dazzle” painting designs for three WWI British ships. View the full post for inline pictures.

At the outset of WWI, German U-boats (submarines) were sinking British and American ships at an alarming rate. Traditional camouflage called for painting the ships to mimic the sea and sky but these were ineffective against submarines that could sneak in close enough to notice that the patterns weren’t lining up. A British artist and officer, Norman Wilkinson, came up with a camouflage scheme called “Dazzle Painting” (“Razzle Dazzle” in the US) inspired by the cubist art and fashion movements of the time.

In naval warfare guns can be fired at the target but torpedos have to be aimed ahead of the path of the ship so that they arrive when the ship crosses. The unusual color and contrasting diagonal patterns of dazzle painting broke up the outline of the ships and made rangefinding with optical viewfinders difficult. The camouflage also had the added benefit of giving the impression of multiple ship bows (nose) and abnormal bow waves. This confused U-boat commanders and made it difficult to determine the direction and speed of their targets by sight. Multiple painting designs were used to heighten the confusion.

All types of ships used these designs, even cruise liners put into war service.

Imagine standing on a pier and seeing dozens of brightly painted ships in different colors and patterns! It’s no surprise that artists in England were influenced by what they saw. The art and fashion that influenced dazzle painting went full circle and influenced later art and fashion designs.

You can still see an example of dazzle painting today on the HMS Belfast docked in London.

Much of the info and pictures from gotouring.com and Wikipedia article.

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This post was inspired by this ship exterior design artist Jeff Koons for art collector, Dakis Joannou. Jeff Koons based the design on… you guessed it.