Editing Peter Scott (section)

==Military service==
[[File:Motor Gun Boats during the Second World War, 1939-1945 HU105409.jpg|thumb|left|[[Steam Gun Boat]], SGB S309, under the command of [[Lieutenant commander (Royal Navy)|Lieutenant Commander]] Peter Scott]]

During the [[World War II|Second World War]], Scott served in the [[Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve]]. As a sub-lieutenant, during the failed evacuation of the [[51st Highland Division]] he was the British naval officer sent ashore at [[Saint-Valery-en-Caux]] in the early hours of 11 June 1940 to evacuate some of the wounded. This was the last evacuation of British troops from the port area of St Valery that was not disrupted by enemy fire.<ref>Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, ''Dunkirk Fight to the Last Man'' Viking, 2006</ref>

[[File:HMS Vernon 1.jpg|thumb|At a light coastal forces base, [[HMS Vernon (shore establishment)|HMS ''Vernon'']], Operational Officer Lieutenant Commander Scott, briefs motor torpedo boat officers before they set off on anti-[[E-Boat]] patrols, June 1944]]

Then he served in [[destroyer]]s in the North Atlantic but later moved to commanding the First (and only) Squadron of [[Steam Gun Boat]]s against German [[E-boats]] in the [[English Channel]].<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/78/a5567178.shtml BBC WW2 Peoples War] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091201103315/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/78/a5567178.shtml |date=1 December 2009 }} accessed 11 December 2007</ref>

Scott is credited with designing the [[Western Approaches]] [[ship camouflage]] scheme, which disguised ship superstructures. In July 1940, he managed to get the destroyer [[HMS Broke (D83)|HMS ''Broke'']], in which he was serving, experimentally camouflaged, differently on the two sides. To starboard, the ship was painted blue-grey all over, but with white in naturally shadowed areas as [[countershading]], following the ideas of [[Abbott Handerson Thayer]] from the First World War. To port, the ship was painted in "bright pale colours" to combine some disruption of shape with the ability to fade out during the night, again with shadowed areas painted white. However, he later wrote that compromise was fatal to camouflage, and that invisibility at night (by painting ships in white or other pale colours) had to be the sole objective. By May 1941, all ships in the Western Approaches (the North Atlantic) were ordered to be painted in Scott's camouflage scheme. The scheme was said to be so effective that several British ships including HMS ''Broke'' collided with each other. The effectiveness of Scott's and Thayer's ideas was demonstrated experimentally by the Leamington Camouflage Centre in 1941. Under a cloudy overcast sky, the tests showed that a white ship could approach six miles (9.6&nbsp;km) closer than a black-painted ship before being seen.<ref>Forbes, Peter (2009). ''[[Dazzled and Deceived: Mimicry and Camouflage]]''. Yale. Pages 172–173.</ref>

On 8 July 1941, it was announced that Scott had been [[mentioned in despatches]] "for good services in rescuing survivors from a burning Vessel" in April 1941 while serving on HMS ''Broke''.<ref name="LG 4 July 1941">{{London Gazette |issue=35212 |date=4 July 1941 |page=3916 |supp=y }}</ref> On 2 October 1942, it was announced that he had again been mentioned in despatches "for gallantry, daring and skill in the [[Dieppe Raid|combined attack on Dieppe]]".<ref name="LG 2 October 1942">{{London Gazette |issue=35729 |date=2 October 1942 |page=4324 |supp=y }}</ref> He was further mentioned in despatches on 28 September 1943 for an action in the English Channel on 26 July 1943. On 1 June 1943, he was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Service Cross]] (DSC) "for skill and gallantry in action with enemy light forces"<ref name="LG 28 May 1943">{{London Gazette |issue=36038 |date=28 May 1943 |pages=2525–2526  |supp=y }}</ref> for an action in the English Channel on 15 April 1943 while commanding H.M. Steam Gunboat "Grey Goose". In the ''London Gazette'' of 9 November 1943, he was awarded a Bar to the DSC for actions in the English Channel on the 4th and 27 September 1943 while commanding the First SGB Flotilla. He was appointed [[Member of the Order of the British Empire]] in the Military Division (MBE) in the [[1942 Birthday Honours]].<ref name="LG 5 June 1942">{{London Gazette |issue=35586 |date=5 June 1942 |pages=2481–2482  }}</ref>