Edward Wadsworth and the Dazzle Camouflage Campaign

[John Simkin]

During the First World War the artist Edward Wadsworth served the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as an intelligence officer on the Greek island of Mudros. Later he was employed on the dazzle camouflage campaign. This was a paint scheme used on ships during the war consisting of a complex pattern of geometric shapes in contrasting colours, interrupting and intersecting each other. It did not conceal the ship but made it difficult for the enemy to estimate its type, size and speed. The idea was to disrupt the visual rangefinders used for naval artillery.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ARTwadsworth.htm