Sunday, November 4, 2012

Camouflaged Mauretania | Jim Baumann

RMS Mauretania (December 1918)


Above I haven't seen this particular photo before (although I've seen plenty of others, almost identical). I found it in an issue of the American Review of Reviews. Vol 59 No 1 (January 1919), p. 19. The caption reads—

THE GREAT TRANSATLANTIC LINER MAURETANIA ARRIVING AT NEW YORK ON DECEMBER 1 [1918] WITH THE FIRST AMERICAN TROOPS RETURNING FROM EUROPE. For more than a year, and particularly since the German offensive of last spring, British as well as American transports had been making eastward voyages crowed with human freight in khaki, through a submarine-infested ocean. Now their peculiar war, to deceive German submarine commanders, is unnecessary. When the Leviathan arrived, two weeks later than the Mauretania, the war paint had been removed. While war was on it was not considered advisable to print picture showing these so-called "camouflaged" vessels.

For more about the RMS Mauretania, I recommend a website called Atlantic Greyhound RMS Mauretania (1907-1935). It offers an extensive history of the ship, but even more fascinating are its dozens of photographs (scroll down the page to see them) of an exquisitely detailed model (numerous in-process views as well as the finished work, two of which are shown below) built by ship modeler Jim Baumann. What an amazing accomplishment.

RMS Mauretania (model by Jim Baumann ©)


RMS Mauretania (model by Jim Baumann ©)