From all that remained of her still above water the
hero-king, Albert, was cheered into Ostend after the Armistice by the
Belgian Boy Scouts, as he steamed past with Sir Roger Keyes to land,
with his heroine-queen, on the soil so long fouled by German pirates.
These raids spoilt German chances from the nearest ports to Britain.
But they did not stop the submarine campaign; and there was still
plenty of work for camouflage, convoys, and "Q" ships.
Camouflage at sea is a very different thing from camouflage on land.
On land camouflage is meant to make one thing look like something else
or to hide it altogether. But no kind of camouflage will hide a ship.
Nor is there any point in making a boat look like anything else; for
everybody knows that ships are the only things at sea. Camouflage
afloat was therefore meant to confuse the submarine commander's aim by
deceiving his eye as to his target's speed and course. By painting
cunning arrangements of stripes and splashes of different colours a
ship's course and speed could be so disguised that the torpedoist was
puzzled in getting his sights on her and in working out the range and
speed.
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