Monday 26 August 2024

Dazzle paint schemes in Halifax

Navies aren’t the only ones revisiting dazzle-type camouflage paint schemes. This is the Captain Paul Watson Foundation’s “John Paul de Joria II” (ex-Vigilant) at COVE in Dartmouth a week or so ago. “Neptune’s Navy” is written on the port bridge wing.




According to Wikipedia, at least two vessels have taken this name - this, formerly the Scottish Fishery Protection Agency's Vigilant, is the second. 

In Halifax alone, there are usually two other examples of this type of camouflage - HMC Ships Sackville (replicating her Second World War paint scheme) and Moncton (wearing a replica paint scheme). 


The last Flower-class corvette, HMCS Sackville, is a museum ship in Halifax, NS.


Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel (MCDV) HMCS Moncton wearing a replica disruptive paint scheme.


Before radar was common on warships, it was common in wartime for these ships to wear dazzle, or disruptive, paint schemes. These designs were intended to break up the outline of a warship to make it more difficult to ascertain the ship's course or bearing (especially important when a U-boat was trying to aim a torpedo at where the target will be in a minute or more after releasing the torpedo). 

Wikipedia of course has an article on this. 

In that article, look for the Arthur Lismer painting of HMTS Olympic - the older sister of Titanic - wearing one of these paint schemes while in Halifax, NS, during the First World War. 



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