 | Camouflage On top of the image, camouflage surface style Below - camouflage in the Silent Service Note: the Silent Service is also smokeless despite being filled with smokers |
Active and passive sonar was already on my radar so to speak; but, active and passive camouflage must have slipped through the cracks in my brain. The concept of diffused lighting camouflage, pioneered by the Royal Canadian Navy during WW II, only came to my attention while looking through my files for an image for Facebook. Seen above, the collage is intended to illustrate that a submarine has its own way of dealing with deception - it quite literally disappears.
Under the Cs the camouflage folder caught my eye and in particular an image of K124-HMCS Cobalt dressed in dazzle. Looking into her background, I discovered that she had been part of the early secret trials of an initiative using lighting to help disguise ships. The idea was to help vessel match the colour of the surroundings to blend invisibly into the scene instead of painting a ship in various colours and patterns to distort the appearance of the shape of a vessel.
While the navy found the technology (projectors mounted on points of the ship) too cumbersome, in 1943, the American air force picked up the ball and developed the Yehudi System which used strategically placed coloured lights to help aircraft be less visible. The diffusive light concept went out of favour for a while; however, the system which began as a Canadian initiative, is once again under consideration.
Canadians have a Flare for Camouflage
The Canadian Armed Forces are also pioneers in the development of CADPAT (Canadian Disruptive Pattern) a digital-base camouflage for uniforms and the CUEPAT (Canadian Urban Environment Pattern) which can be adapted to woodland or desert wear.
As an aside, it is interesting to note that it was a Canadian, Reginald Fessenden, who pioneered the early ASDIC or sonar systems - one of the main tools used to avoid detection or suss out subs and surface vessels.
Under the Cs the camouflage folder caught my eye and in particular an image of K124-HMCS Cobalt dressed in dazzle. Looking into her background, I discovered that she had been part of the early secret trials of an initiative using lighting to help disguise ships. The idea was to help vessel match the colour of the surroundings to blend invisibly into the scene instead of painting a ship in various colours and patterns to distort the appearance of the shape of a vessel.
While the navy found the technology (projectors mounted on points of the ship) too cumbersome, in 1943, the American air force picked up the ball and developed the Yehudi System which used strategically placed coloured lights to help aircraft be less visible. The diffusive light concept went out of favour for a while; however, the system which began as a Canadian initiative, is once again under consideration.
Canadians have a Flare for Camouflage
The Canadian Armed Forces are also pioneers in the development of CADPAT (Canadian Disruptive Pattern) a digital-base camouflage for uniforms and the CUEPAT (Canadian Urban Environment Pattern) which can be adapted to woodland or desert wear.
As an aside, it is interesting to note that it was a Canadian, Reginald Fessenden, who pioneered the early ASDIC or sonar systems - one of the main tools used to avoid detection or suss out subs and surface vessels.
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