What does the navy use to camouflage?

Answer 1

Navy vessels in peacetime don't use camouflage per se, but during wartime there are certain paint schemes that are painted on vessels, including surface ships and submarines.

During peacetime, the haze gray paint of ships is designed specifically so that a ship is more difficult to see against the background of the horizon while at sea. With submarines, the black paint is so that they're more difficult to spot in the water, both from the surface and from the air. Aircraft are painted so that they're difficult to spot both from above and below, with different coatings, depending on the type of craft.

During wartime camouflage paint for surface ships is designed to confuse an enemy as to the ship's direction, angle on the bow, and general identification characteristics. Civilian vessels in wartime would also use such camouflage.

Recent advances in stealth technology have also led to electronic camouflage designs, similar to the F-117 Stealth fighter, using both angled designs and radar absorbing material. Though use of anechoic coverings isn't new (the Navy's been using them for over 30 years) the newer ship designs make it much more difficult for an enemy radar (ship, missile, etc.) to find and get a lock on the ship. The only drawback is the maintenance cost - the stuff isn't cheap or easy to maintain like regular haze gray or black paint.

The Navy can and does use other methods of camouflage, including acoustic and electronic emissions. For example, warships generally have a typical electronic emission (radar, radio, etc.) footprint, and their sound in the water (heard by submarine sonar) is also distinctive. Warships can alter both electronic and acoustic emissions to appear more like a merchant vessel if required.