How ‘Dazzle Camouflage’ Painted on Ships Helped Them Evade Torpedoes During World War I

Sam Denby of Half as Interesting explained the history behind the widely used “dazzle camouflage”, which was painted on ships to help evade naval torpedoes during World War I.

This is dazzle camouflage, and it’s probably the most popular and widely used method for camouflaging a ship. It’s been used since World War I, and can still be seen on warships today. …Dazzle camo, of course, did not make the ship harder to see, but it did make it a lot harder to understand what you were seeing.

Denby also talked about the science behind this specific design. Torpedoes required a specific striking point, and this camouflage made it extremely difficult to hit.

From a distance, these black lines can create shadows where there are none, and these white lines can erase the shadows that were already there. This triangle in the middle might look like it’s pointed at the camera, for example, when it’s actually a flat surface on the side of the ship. It can also be tricky to tell where the sky starts and the ship ends.

Read the entire article on the Laughing Squid website here:

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