U.S. Navy brings back stunning WWI era 'Dazzle' ship camouflage

U.S Naval Institute ^ | 3/1/13 | U.S. Naval Institute

[Saint X]

Friday’s deployment of USS Freedom (LCS 1) will revive a tradition of camouflaging warships. Outside of smaller patrol boats, the U.S. largely abandoned elaborate color schemes and stuck with haze gray.

[Covenantor]

So you're basically saying that the 'dazzle type' paint scheme will confuse wave level optical perception if we paint our ships to look like the USS Cole post attack.

All that money and equipment training wasted when all we really needed was paint and some gay decorators and florists doing their thing.

[Saint X]

It’s purely for show now rather than disguise. The new Littoral Combat Ships are much-maligned, so this is probably a good PR stunt to generate a bit of excitement.

[wizr]

Uh...I see!

[JimRed]

With the advent of radar camouflage lost much of its usefulness. Now stealth, that’s where it’s at!

[onedoug]

Where did this money come from?

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Very interesting pictures-Thanks!

[Robert A Cook PE]

Er,uhm, ah ... no.

I’m saying the exact opposite.

[Robert A Cook PE]

You might think so.

But, of two merchants and a destroyer and a carrier and an amphib, all 20 miles off but close to each other near the shore, how do you aim a torpedo at the right target?

[BubbaBasher]

I think this one is the best design.

[doorgunner69]

Now every vessel will need an onboard scenic designer.

Why not? According to out Drill Instructors, the navy has plenty of interior decorators.......
J/K

[SuperLuminal]

Hmmm...Didn’t realize that there were any battle wagons remaining in the Navy’s inventory...Same view the chicoms had when the Missouri sat off shore and unloaded salvo after salvo...

[Does so]

Before the War, a US submarine—with contaminated fuel—”set-sail” to return to its Hawaiian base.

[RegulatorCountry]

The USS California shown bombarding Guam in 1944 is the most effective one of the bunch, historic or modern. It could be a small rocky island for all you could tell at a glance with the naked eye.

I suspect this is intended to help foil lower-tech terrorist attacks by small cells using speedboats. It serves no other purpose that I can see, other than jumping on the camo fashion bandwagon.

[Ramius]

Anybody know what the post-war studies showed for effectiveness of those paint schemes? Seems logical to me that it would’ve been effective against visual targeting by subs or small craft. But was there any data to prove it?

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Robert A. Cook, PE.

[Lancey Howard]

Now every vessel will need an onboard scenic designer.

Yeah, well Ubama's military should be getting plenty of those prancing up the gangplank.

[0.E.O]

But, of two merchants and a destroyer and a carrier and an amphib, all 20 miles off but close to each other near the shore, how do you aim a torpedo at the right target?

Because the acoustic signature of a large, single screw merchantman is different than that of a large, twin screwed warship which is, in turn, different from a small twin screwed warship. Any sonar man worth his salt can identify targets by the noise they're putting out alone and target the torpedo accordingly.

[Robert A Cook PE]

The details of why your conclusion - although on the surface seems right - is wrong are classified.

[Cvengr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssD9crDcoYg

They need to see where to land when going VFR. Nice bird.

[Cvengr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=FGykzxgS1TE

LCS-2