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by pjc50 3126 days ago
There's a modern example of this at anchor in Edinburgh: https://edinburghartfestival.com/dazzle

I've seen it in person, but what I've not tried and I wonder if anyone has, is photographing it from some distance across the sea to see if it's meaningfully camouflaged. I'm not sure that's possible at it's current location because of the harbour.

2 comments

Dazzle isn't about making it hide, it's about making it hard for a submarine's periscope (before the advent of radar) have trouble figuring out the speed and direction the ship is traveling. Remember, you have to fire a torpedo at where the target is going to be, not where it is.

This is why Dazzle often uses fake bow wakes (an indication of speed) and lines going off in different directions (making it hard to tell the true direction optically).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage

Important to note that this example is supposed to be artistic, not actually effective as dazzle/concealment. It is a creative design, not a functional one.

https://www.1418now.org.uk/dazzle/