Dazzle Ships Flashcards
Why were over 1,200 US ships and twice as many British ships painted during WWI?
To make it harder for German torpedoes to sink them because they would be camouflaged and confuse the German submarine crews about the ships’ direction and speed
Who was Germany’s strongest opponent in WWI?
Britain
Why did Germany start using U-boats to sink the United Kingdom’s non-fighting ships rather than just the fighting ships?
Because many of those boats carried food to Britain so Germany thought if they destroyed all of Britain’s food, they would starve and surrender
What did U-boat stand for?
Undersea boat
What did the British government call Norman Wilkinson’s idea to paint the boats?
Dazzle
What country ended up surrendering in WWI in 1918?
Germany
How many years did WWI last?
4 years (from 1914-1918)
Why did the Germans need to know the direction the ships were headed?
The torpedoes weren’t very fast. So, the Germans would fire the torpedo towards the spot where they expected the ship to be by the time the torpedo arrived.
Initially the Germans only tried to sink fighting ships. What did they hope to accomplish by sinking non-fighting ships?
They were trying to starve Great Britain (England) by stopping food from coming into ports.
What did the British hope swimmers could do to stop submarine attacks?
They thought they could smash the periscopes with hammers.
If the designs on the ships were not meant to make the ships difficult to see what was the purpose?
It was to confuse the enemy from trying to figure out the direction and speed in which the ships were going.
To help decide which designs would confuse the Germans, who did Wilkinson ask to look through a periscope to see if the designs disguised the direction of the ships?
King George V (Accept: the king [of England/UK])
