Dazzling design

Birkenhead, UK shipyard Cammell Laird has completed painting a Mersey ferry in a ‘dazzle’ design by British pop artist Sir Peter Blake, as part of the events to mark the centenary of World War One

The First World War Centenary Art Commissions, and Tate Liverpool museum commissioned Sir Peter to ‘dazzle’ the Mersey ferry Snowdrop in partnership with Merseytravel and National Museums Liverpool. Sir Peter’s design entitled ‘Everybody Razzle Dazzle’ covers the passenger vessel with a distinctive pattern that can be seen for the next two years as the ferry continues its service. It will launch in April 2015 and is the first of the Dazzle Ship commissions to be a working vessel.

Cammell Laird CEO John Syvret, CBE, said the company is immensely proud to ‘dazzle’ a second vessel after it also painted Liverpool pilot boat the Edmund Gardner, in a dazzle design by renowned artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, in 2014. The Edmund Gardner is situated in dry dock adjacent to Liverpool’s Albert Dock.

The painting of the Snowdrop marks a busy period of ferry work for Cammell Laird. During 2013 and 2014 Cammell Laird repaired, built and converted almost 500,000 gross tons of ferry and Ro-Ro ships for a wide range of owners. Already in 2015 it has docked and repaired ferries of 150,000 gross tons. Ferries worked on include both conventional and high speed vessels in steel and aluminium.

Dazzle camouflage, with its characteristic intersecting geometric patterns, was developed during the First World War, not as a method of concealing ships but to make it much harder for the enemy to estimate a target ship’s type, range, speed and heading.

During World War One Cammell Laird completed work on nine battleships, 60 cruisers, 100 British and 95 United States destroyers, eight submarines, 123 armed merchant vessels and 107 merchant ships.