The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1918-01-15
Painters Disguise Craft to De-
ceive Foe Lurking in
Enemy Waters.
cAMOUFlAGE IN THE navy
Even DreadnauQhts Made to Appear
as Something but the Monsters
They Are-Navy Men Like
Gray the Best.
BY J. M. DAGGER.

Correspondent Chicago News.
Norfolk, Va.-"And what is that oil
tub lying over there, captain"
"That happens to be a brand new
torpedo boat destroyer that has JUS
arrived to be manned and put into i'm
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: IA fine morning, but not q
ship in sight" If the next instant
finds the submarine banked straight
down into Davy Jones' locker, it is be-
cause the commander failed to launch
a torpedo at the fine morning" and
because the fine morning. got in its
shot first.
It is the naval camouflage-the
painting of ships to look at a short dis
lance like what they are not and at
q long distance like nothing at all.
Even a Superdreadnauoht.
Impossible as it might seem to make
superdreadnaughts appear anything
but the monsters they are, there are
nevertheless processes Of camouflage
for them. It is obvious that details
as to what designs are being used on
various types of ships are not for pub
lication, especially in view Of the fact
that experimental schemes for having
ships sail In false cOlOrS-nOt under
them-are constantly being tried out.
I saw n 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 camOufiage in which
only grays were used. Simple in con-
ceptiOE and execution, apparently, but
it had an amazing effect on the ap-
pearance Of the ship a short distance
at sea, and from what happened at
that short distance I have no doubt the
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
llOLS VI SO1Ol Ii llCdh uOOl61N
that the scientific application of n
of the fine arts is smearing over their
The camouf1age used by a great
many merchantmen Is familiar to ev-
aryone who has observed the shipping
the harbors along the Atlantic coast.
These vessels close up look like
o~,x,t1oJ ro{nb1r,o ~. 1;I,o %ho ~o1o%+a
If an artist in his cups. The weather
much to do with the power Of
.hese gay cOlOrs to create optical illu-
lions.
It is almost impossible for people
living comfortably in large cities to
imagine the hardships which the men
Who watch our coasts are suffering at
his time of year. Twenty degrees be-
zero in the Rocky mountains Is
lot so cold as the weather around the
apes. The government has supplied
he hundreds Of men on the patrol
'oats, the submarine chasers and the
zine sweepers with their allotment Of
winter clothing, but they need knitted
~rticles.
Sometimes Must Let 1t Sink.
Should disaster overtake a ship the
ules in the district office at Norfolk
ay the first consideration must be the
var needs of the country. One vessel
lust not risk danger to save another.
he conservation of ships and of men,
OF the chivalry and the courage and
he heroism of the sea, must guide the
of those who would save q
crew. If the number of
yes involved is very great-great I
.ough to justify the risk of a smaller
of lives-then the rescue may
e attempted. But if there is doubt
nat a rescuing party will itself return
.om a perilous journey to save a small
umber of lives, then the war time rule
firm. /.
Early every morning the ships go
ut in pairs, sister ships, with their
uge "brOOm" stretched across from
ne vessel to the other, to make clear !.
lie path for the merchantmen and :
arships that must pass through the
lpes and out to sea and for those that :
in during the day. Do they find Z
~ German mines? I dont know. =
ut If there are German mines to be
'und near our coasts, the work of
le mine sweepers is a risky business
deed. Even if there are no German Z
ines, I suppose it is quite possible
+ an American mine-there are thou :
nds of them planted in the district +
break loose from the great mine
Id in Hampton Roads, or elsewhere,
i'd drift in the way of unsuspecting :
lip. And there is always the posi- F
lily of the enemy within doing what
.lceasing vigilance in the naval dis
let is trying to prevent him from :
ing.