Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1918-02-28
MAKES WARSHIP
LOOK LIKE TUB
Painters Disguise Craft to De-
ceive Foe Lurking in
Enemy Waters.
cAMoUFLAGE IN THE navy
Even Dreadnauehts Made to Appear
as Something but the Monsters
They Are-Navy Men Like
i Gray the Best.
BY J. M. DAGGER,

BY j. M. DAGGER,
Correspondent Chicago News
Norfolk, Va-"And what is that old
tub lying over there, captain?"
"That happens to be a brand new, /
torpedo boat destroyer that has just F,
arrived to be manned and put into Inn
mediate service"
The thing that made me call the new
destroyer an old tub is the thing that
makes the commander of a German
U-boat look through his periscope and
remark: "a fine morning, but not q
ship in sight, If the next instant
finds the submarine banked straight
down into Davy jones' locker, 1t is be-
cause the commander failed to launch
Ia torpedo at the sine morning. and
because the 'fine morning got in It's
shot first.
It is the naval camoufage-the
painting Of ships to look at short dis
lance like what they are not and at
long distance like nothing at all.
Even Superdreadnaught. !
Impossible as it might seem to make
superdreadnaughts appear anything
but the monsters they are, there are
nevertheless processes of camOuf1age
for them. 1t is obvious that details
as to what designs are being used on
various types Of ships are not for pub
LEGATION, especially in view of the fact
that experimental schemes for having
ships sail in false colors-not under
them-are constantly being tried out.
saw one of the largest of the naval
GOLFERS, which has several times
crossed the Atlantic since Americas
entry into the war, that had a very
simple scheme Of camouflage in which
only grays were used. Simple in con-
ception and execution, apparently, but
it had an amazing effect on the ap-
pearance of the ship short distance
at sea, and from what happened at
| that short distance have no doubt the
! collier was lost to the eye when it got
much farther away.
The older naval officers incline to
the opinion that the regulation navy
gray by itself is better than any camou-
flage that the artists have invented,
and they are frankly skeptical about
these riots of color and freak designs
that the scientific application of one
of the fine arts is smearing over their
ships.
The camouaage used by great
many merchantmen is familiar to ev-
eryone who has observed the shipping
in the harbors along the Atlantic coast.
These vessels close up look like
scrambled rainbows or like tile palette
of an artist in his cups. The weather
has much to do with the power Of
these gay colors to create optical illu-
sions.
/ 1t is almost impossible for people
living comfortably in large cities to
imagine the hardships which the men
who watch our coasts are suffering at
this time of year. Twenty degrees be-
low zero in the Rocky mountains is
not SO cold as the weather around the
capes. The government has supplied
the hundreds of men on the patrol
boats, the submarine chasers and the
mine sweepers with their allotment of
winter clothing, but they need knitted
: articles.
Sometimes Must Let 1t Sink.
! Should disaster overtake ship the
,, rules in the district office at Norfolk
:, say the first consideration must be the
war needs of the country. One vessel
:. must not risk danger to save another
The conservation of ships and of men
not the chivalry and the courage AND
the heroism of the sea. must guide the
decision of those who would save 8
shipwrecked crew. If the number OF
lives involved is very great-grea
enough to justify the risk of smaller
: number of lives-then the rescue ma.
!, be attempted. But if there is doub
: that rescuing party will itself return
4 from perilous journey to save small
- number Of lives, then the war time rul
!, is firm.
It Early every morning the ships g
}, out in pairs, sister ships, with thei
d huge "broom" stretched across fror
t, one vessel to the other, to make clea
q the path for the merchantmen an
z wal SlllpS llltlt nuSt pass tHiouSu VI
e, capes and out to sea and for those. tina
d come in during the day. Do they fin
. any German mines? / dolft know
But if there are. German mines to Ia
found near our coasts, the work {
the mine sweepers is a risky bushes
indeed. Even if there are no Germa
r mines, suppose it is quite possib
at for an American mine-there are tho1
fr sands of them planted in the district
is to break loose from the great mil
SO field in Hampton Roads, or elsewher
o. and drift in the way of unsuspectir
IL ship. And there is always the poss
n. bility of the enemy within doing VIII
IN unceasing vigilance in the naval di
IS trict is trying to prevent him fro
doing.
4 Golfers Buy Sheep to Now Links.