During World War I, navies painted their ships in dazzle camouflage, also known as razzle dazzle.
But did the dazzle actually dazzle, or did it simply look ridiculous?
Aston University researchers have investigated the efficacy of dazzle camouflage on WWI battleships by re-analyzing a 106-year-old study.
A passenger ship in dazzle camouflage.© Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
Their findings are detailed in astudypublished on March 14 in Sage Journals.
Blodgett ultimately concluded that dazzle camouflage achieved its aim.
Specifically, they suspected that the onlookers warped perception was not totally due to the dazzle paint.
“Olympic with Returned Soldiers” painted in 1919 by War artist Arthur Lismer. © Arthur Lismer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Our experiment worked well.
Both types of ships produced the horizon effect, but the dazzle imposed an additional twist.
More broadly, viewers underestimate this angle, even when its greater than 25 degrees.
This indicates that another factor, beyond dazzle camouflage, was influencing the illusion.
They identified the horizon effect and concluded it played a greater role in deceiving viewers than dazzle camouflage.
In other words, the horizon effect hoodwinked even experienced individuals.
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