Most of what I've pasted here is ripped from Wikipedia to save time and quickly explain what Dazzle is/was. I've cut out some stuff to make it a faster read, but it's fascinating:
Dazzle camouflage was a family of ship camouflage used extensively in World War I, and to a lesser extent in World War II . Credited to the British marine artist Norman Wilkinson, it consisted of complex patterns of geometric shapes in contrasting colours, interrupting and intersecting each other.
The intention of dazzle is not to conceal but to make it difficult to estimate a target's range, speed, and heading.
Dazzle was adopted by the Admiralty in the UK, and then by the United States Navy, with little evaluation. Each ship's dazzle pattern was unique to avoid making classes of ships instantly recognisable to the enemy. Patterns sometimes also included a false bow wave to make it difficult for an enemy to estimate the ship's speed.
Example of false bow wave:
That dazzle did indeed work along these lines is suggested by the testimony of a U-boat captain:
Suggestively, of the ships that were struck by torpedoes, 43% of the dazzle ships sank, compared to 54% of the uncamouflaged; and similarly, 41% of the dazzle ships were struck amidships, compared to 52% of the uncamouflaged. These comparisons could be taken to imply that submarine commanders did have more difficulty in deciding where a ship was heading and where to aim.
Dazzle camouflage was a family of ship camouflage used extensively in World War I, and to a lesser extent in World War II . Credited to the British marine artist Norman Wilkinson, it consisted of complex patterns of geometric shapes in contrasting colours, interrupting and intersecting each other.
The intention of dazzle is not to conceal but to make it difficult to estimate a target's range, speed, and heading.
Dazzle was adopted by the Admiralty in the UK, and then by the United States Navy, with little evaluation. Each ship's dazzle pattern was unique to avoid making classes of ships instantly recognisable to the enemy. Patterns sometimes also included a false bow wave to make it difficult for an enemy to estimate the ship's speed.
Example of false bow wave:
That dazzle did indeed work along these lines is suggested by the testimony of a U-boat captain:
Suggestively, of the ships that were struck by torpedoes, 43% of the dazzle ships sank, compared to 54% of the uncamouflaged; and similarly, 41% of the dazzle ships were struck amidships, compared to 52% of the uncamouflaged. These comparisons could be taken to imply that submarine commanders did have more difficulty in deciding where a ship was heading and where to aim.
One could argue even some animals practice Dazzle camo.
