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The final coat of paint has been applied to a new version of a World War I ‘dazzle ship’ on the Liverpool waterfront.

The Edmund Gardner pilot boat, conserved by the Merseyside Maritime Museum, has been transformed as it stands in its dry dock between Mann Island and the Albert Dock.

Painters, scaffolders and others involved in the Liverpool Biennial project gathered on board ship to toast the completion of the giant artwork which has been designed by Venezuelan-born, Paris-based artist Carlos Cruz-Diez.

The dazzle technique was used in WWI to confuse enemy ships and U-boats as to the manoeuvres of Allied vessels.

It was immortalised by artist Alfred Wadsworth in his 1918 painting Dazzle-ship in Drydock at Liverpool. Wadsworth was himself responsible for supervising the camouflage of 2,000 ships in the war.

The paint for the new Cruz-Diez work – a joint initiative between Liverpool Biennial, 14-18 NOW, the official cultural programme for the WWI centenary, and the Maritime Museum – was supplied by International Paint, and the work carried out by Cammell Laird.

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Police let Liverpool fans have larger end of Hillsborough when planning FA Cup match three years before disaster

Reds great Ian St John fights cancer but vows to 'battle on'



MP backs posties' refusal to deliver free copies of The Sun newspaper

Mersey GP guilty of groping in what was described as 'sexually motivated' behaviour

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