The
Development of Naval Camouflage
1914 1945
Part I
By
Alan Raven
(Article
reprinted courtesy of Plastic Ship
Modeler Magazine issue #96/3)
I.
Inclination type to produce an effect whereby the observer believes that the vessel
is one particular course but is in fact on an entirely different one.
II.
Concealment of speed to produce an effect by the use of a painted bow
wave a false impression of speed.
III.
Dawn or dusk type whereby the color or colors produce a degree of invisibility
at sunrise or sunset, the periods at which a ship is most likely to be
observed because of the very rapid changes in light conditions.
IV.
Land background type a vessel so painted as to blend in with
appropriate shoreline and background.
In almost
every case of the latter four types, the actual design would incorporate a
varying degree of the concealment aspect by particular use of colors and the
size and shape of the paint panels. The
reverse would often be true with concealment types containing a measure of
disruption to disguise identity upon being observed and/or the paint panels
arranged to give some measure of false heading.
In actual usage at sea the degree of intermixing of type on any one
vessel was often so complicated that trying to identify where in the pattern the
emphasis lay is often difficult and sometimes impossible.
Especially so when a design type or pattern has been unofficially changed
in a major or even a subtle manner, the bastard result substantially reducing
the intended effect.
It is useful
at this point to define color, shade, and the aspects of light in a
non-scientific but easily understood manner.
In this way the reader will be able to follow the text of the series
without much trouble.
COLOR the
spectral characteristics of visible light without relation to brightness; a
person does not see color but rather deduces it, and this is the reason
why a person quite often sees one color differently from another person.
TONE degree
of brightness or darkness without relation to color, for example, a red and a
blue, each different in color but having the same degree of reflected light, so
that if a color filter was placed over them the two resulting greys would appear
identical.
MEAN-TONE the
average of the various tones of a camouflage pattern, i.e. the average
darkness and lightness of the pattern.
EFFECTIVE TONE
the distance from the observer at which the different tones merge to form
one overall tone.
SHADE A
combination of color and hue.
DIRECT LIGHT
light received from one source in the sky in direct light a ship that is
brighter than the background will be visible at a greater distance than a ship
which is in a tone darker than the background.
DIFFUSED LIGHT
light received equally from all parts of the sky.
In diffused light the light tones of a pattern will blend in with the
background, while the contrasting dark tones will be visible thus creating an
unrecognizable shape.
SKY BRIGHTNESS RATIO
the comparison between the total light received from one half of the sky
containing the brightest source of light and that received from the other half.
DOWN LIGHT
where the observer is placed directly between the light source and the observed
ship.
UP LIGHT - where
the observed ship is between the observer and the light source, where the ship
is seen in silhouette.
REFLECTION FACTOR
the amount of light that a color or tone will reflect back to the observer,
examples; the deepest black will only reflect two or three percent of the light
that falls on its surfac3e and could therefor have a reflectance factor of
3%, while the purest white reflects back about 90% of the light.
DIFFUSE REFLECTION
where the light is reflected in all directions independantly of the
direction from which it is received.
SPECULAR REFLECTION
where the light is reflected directionally as by a mirror at an angle equal
to the angle from which it was received.
CONDITIONS OF ACHIEVING CONCEALMENT
Concealment
will occur when the effective tone of the ship matches the effective tone of the
background. When a ship is down
light then dark tones are needed as a large percentage of directional light must
be absorbed. When a vessel is up
light it will appear as a silhouette, no matter how it is painted.
In conditions
of weather that produce diffused light, (an overcast day with no sun),
concealment is best achieved by using a very light toned pattern which will give
the minimum range at which visibility occurs.
Where the
camouflage panels are small in size, regardless of shape, and cover the entire
hull and superstructure, the distance at which the effective tone is achieved is
reduced, and ideally the camouflage is designed so that the effective tone of
the ship is achieved at the same distance that the effective tone of the
background occurs. Here lies the
greatest problem with attaining concealment at sea; the background has an
annoying habit of undergoing continual change from dark to light caused by the
changes from direct to diffused light. In
addition there is the problem of what angle the ship is viewed from.
For example, the view from a periscope will show the vessel against a sky
background, while the reverse is true when the ship is seen from the air, so
when preparing any camouflage that is designed to promote concealment, these
variables must be taken into account.
ACHIEVEMENT OF DISRUPTION
When used in
pure form, the objective is to produce, regardless of background, weather or
light conditions, an effect that prevents identification down to a minimum
range. This is achieved by breaking up the ships true appearance
by using strongly contrasting tones covering the entire structure, so that in
strong direct light the dark tones will absorb and the light tone reflect, and
vice-versa when diffused light prevails.
ACHIEVEMENT OF FALSE INCLINATION
Inclination
is the name given to that which describes a ships course or heading.
Strongly contrasting tones are employed and arranged so as no paint
line follows any true line of the structure, especially at the
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