Dazzle Camouflage in WWI

In the early 20^th century, you sank a ship by targeting its expected path with your guns or torpedoes. You did not target your weapons at the ship itself. Back then the projectiles traveled much more slowly than they do today. Therefore it was extremely important to know which direction your target was heading. Norman Wilkinson, a Royal Navy volunteer reserve member, came up with a plan in 1917. He thought of a new type of ship camouflage. His idea was not to camouflage the ship from view but to confuse its attacker of which direction the ship was going. His design was tested on models before it was painted on real ships, and it proved extremely effective. You could not tell which direction the ship was going. He called it dazzle camouflage. Though used during the rest of the war, it was fazed out and not used much in WWII, and then it pretty much disappeared as our locating systems became more sophisticated.