Introduction
While researching information for these pages I would often come across dazzle camouflage painted ships. This page looks at when and why it was used.
U-Boat Torpedo Attacks
At the start of WWI in 1914, ASDIC (Anti-Submarine Division), the forerunner of SONAR (sound navigation and ranging), and RADAR (radio detection and ranging) was still years away. German U-Boats would locate ships by the smoke emitted from their smokestacks against the horizon. The submarine would then close in to a distance of approximately 1,000 to 2,000 feet from the target, in order to be in torpedo range. Achieving a hit with the torpedo depended on accurately determining the speed and heading of the target; at the distance the submarines kept, even a slight miscalculation would result in a miss.
The difficulty for the U-Boat was knowing where to point the torpedo to achieve a hit. It was not helping that both the target and the firing platform (the submarine) were both moving and at different depths. The U-Boat captain would use his periscope to try and gauge the target ship's speed and heading. In some films, you would see the captain order "Give me a firing solution".
What would then happen is that the range and vector from the submarine and the lead needed between the two would then be calculated and the torpedo fired.
German attack course finder
Image: Torpedo Vorhaltrechner Project
Using the attack course finder an angle could be read and the periscope pointed on that. When the target ship reached the cross-hairs, the torpedo was launched.
Dazzle Camouflage
It proved difficult for the Royal Navy to devise a camouflage pattern in the ordinary sense of hiding an object, for ships that would prove effective in differing conditions of on the light, the changing colours of sea and sky, the time of day, and the angle of the sun.
Several paint schemes were proposed by various people and then marine artist and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve officer Norman Wilkinson suggested a scheme to make it difficult for an enemy to estimate a ship's type, size, speed, and heading, and thereby confuse enemy ship commanders into taking mistaken or poor firing positions.
The British Admiralty was reluctant to change its ways so Wilkinson approached Joseph Maclay, the Minister of Shipping, resulting in the British Merchant Service adopting dazzle painting scheme in October 1917 with the Royal Navy following suit shortly afterwards.
Simulation of a periscope view of a ship with and without dazzle camouflage
Image: Wikimedia
Other allied navies such as the United States, France and Belgium soon started using dazzle camouflage. To make it more difficult for the Germans to identify the ships, no two were painted the same and even the port and starboard sites were painted differently. By the end of WWI, around 4,000 ships were painted with dazzle camouflage.
Dazzle camouflage was used during WWII and even today (2025) some ships are still using it.
Some examples of WWI dazzle camouflage. Nearly all the photos came from the Imperial War Museums collection.
The French battleship Richelieu during WWII
Image: Discovery Box Optical Illusions package, published by Scholastic in 1996, ISBN 0-590-89667-9
HMS Tamar in 2021
Image: Wikimedia
Aeroplanes were also painted with dazzle camouflage:
Interestingly the Imperials War Museums say the dazzle camoflage on the WWI planes wwere differnt colours than on the ships, for example red and white. They also say that the dazzle camouflage aided identification in the air during combat and on the water in the event of being forced down.
How Effective was Dazzle Camouflage
It is difficult to measure how effective dazzle camouflage was - and still is. Its use coincided with other anti-submarine measures such as sailing a zig-zag course, escorted convoys and so on. Even after WWII, tests were being done to see how effective it actually was, those gave varied results but it appears that 10% of torpedo attacks were unsucessful against dazzle camouflaged ships.
Sailors felt safer serving on the dazzle camouflaged painted ships and several U-Boat captains said they were confused by it. One saying:
It was not until she was within half a mile that I could make out she was one ship [not several] steering a course at right angles, crossing from starboard to port. The dark painted stripes on her after part made her stern appear her bow, and a broad cut of green paint amidships looks like a patch of water. The weather was bright and visibility good; this was the best camouflage I have ever seen.
Sources & Resources
35 Facts About Dazzle Camouflage - Facts Net
Dazzle camouflage - Wikipedia
Dazzle camouflaged ships - Imperial War Museums
Dazzle Ships - Public Domain Review
How the WWI Dazzle Ships Redefined Camouflage - History Facts
Norman Wilkinson - Wikipedia
Pimp My Ship: Dazzle, dragons and disguise - Forces News - A look at modern ships wirh dazzle camouflage
Submarine Torpedo Fire Control Manual - San Francisco Maritime National Park Association
The Rise and Fall of Dazzle Camouflage - Warfare History Network
The Unexpected Story Of Dazzle Camouflage - All That's Interesting
Torpedo Vorhaltrechner Project - A fantastic site with just about everything about WWI and WWII torpedoes you want to know