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. Unlike some other forms of camouflage, dazzle works not by offering concealment but by making it difficult to estimate a target's identity, 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. The result was that a profusion of dazzle schemes were tried, and the evidence for their success was at best mixed.
Dazzle camouflage patterns used on battleships are presented here.
Colors
MS-31 | MS-31a | MS-32 | MS-33 | MS-33a | Horizontals | |||||||||
Haze Gray 5-H | Haze Gray 5-H | Light Gray 5-L | Light Gray 5-L | Pale Gray 5-P | Pale Gray 5-P | Light Gray 5-L | Ocean Gray 5-O | |||||||
Ocean Gray 5-O | Ocean Gray 5-O | Dull Black 82 | Ocean Gray 5-O | Haze Gray 5-H | Haze Gray 5-H | Ocean Gray 5-O | Deck Blue 20-B | |||||||
Dull Black 82 | Navy Blue 5-N | Dull Black 82 | Navy Blue 5-N | Ocean Gray 5-O | ||||||||||
Patterns
Name | Description | Pattern sheet | Photo | Known examples |
---|---|---|---|---|
MS-31[lower-alpha 1] | For Colorado-class battleships | [lower-alpha 1] | Maryland | |
MS-32/1B | For Iowa-class battleships | Iowa | ||
MS-31a/6B | For USS Nevada (BB-36) | Nevada | ||
MS-31a/7B | For USS Arkansas (BB-33) | Arkansas | ||
MS-31a/8B | For New York-class battleships | New York, Texas | ||
Adapted designs | ||||
MS-32/7A (aircraft carrier) | Adapted to Iowa-class battleships | Not used | ||
MS-32/1D (destroyer) | Adapted to Tennessee-class battleships | Tennessee | ||
Adapted to USS Massachusetts (BB-59) | Not used | |||
MS-32/3D (destroyer) | Adapted to USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) | Not used | ||
Adapted to New Mexico-class battleships | Not used | |||
Adapted to Colorado-class battleships | Colorado | |||
MS-32/6D (destroyer) | Adapted to New Mexico-class battleships | New Mexico, Mississippi | ||
MS-32/7D (destroyer) | Adapted to USS West Virginia (BB-48)[lower-alpha 2] | West Virginia | ||
MS-32v6/10D (destroyer) | Adapted to North Carolina-class battleships | Not used | ||
MS-32/11D (destroyer) | Adapted to South Dakota-class battleships | Indiana | ||
MS-32/16D (destroyer) | Adapted to Tennessee-class battleships | California | ||
MS-32v11/18D (destroyer) | Adapted to North Carolina-class battleships | North Carolina[lower-alpha 3] | ||
MS-32/22D (destroyer) | Adapted to Iowa-class battleships | Missouri | ||
Notes
- 1 2 Maryland received a unique and presumably experimental dazzle pattern in late 1942 or early 1943, before the issuance of the SHIPS-2 Supplement; no designation or pattern sheet for it is known. The lightest color appears to be Haze Gray 5-H, making it a Measure 31 scheme.
- ↑ The sheet is marked "BB-45 [i.e. Colorado] class;" however the drawing is clearly specific to West Virginia, whose post-Pearl Harbor reconstruction rendered her decidedly different from her sisters.
- ↑ North Carolina's actual paint job only corresponded loosely to the pattern sheet
See also
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