 It may have been partly through Bittinger that Warner was approached by the US Shipping Board (in the summer of 1917) to carry out a camouflage scheme that had been invented by Thomas A. Edison.Using Edison's specifications, it was Warner who applied that scheme to a former German ocean liner, the "SS Ochenfels".Although the result was intended to be an “invisible ship,” it was not only readily visible but was structurally absurd as well, with the result that a section attached to the bow had fallen off before the ship left New York harbor.