river in October 1943, the Red Army laid a smoke screen long. At the Anzio beachhead in 1944, US Chemical Corps troops maintained a "light haze" smokescreen around the harbour throughout daylight hours, for two months. The density of this screen was adjusted to be sufficient to prevent observation by German forward observers in the surrounding hills, yet not inhibit port operations. In the Vietnam War, "Smoke Ships" were introduced as part of a new Air Mobile Concept to protect crew and man on the ground from small arms fire. In 1964 and 1965, the "Smoke Ship" was first employed by the 145th Combat Aviation Battalion using the UH-1B. Naval warfare There are a number of early examples of using incendiary weapons at sea, such as Greek fire, stinkpots, fire ships, and incendiaries on the decks of turtle ships, which also had the effect of creating smoke. The naval smoke screen is often said to have been proposed by Sir Thomas Cochrane in 1812, although Cochrane's proposal was as much an asphyxiant as an obscurant. It is not until the early twentieth century that there is clear evidence of deliberate use of large scale naval smokescreens as a major tactic. During the American Civil War, the first smoke screen was used by the R.E. Lee, running the blockade and escaping the . The use of smoke screens was common in the naval battles of World War I and World War II. See also Early thermal weapons Military camouflage PT boat Smoke bomb References External links Weapons countermeasures Smoke Sniper warfare tactics Diversionary tactics