Hiding warships at sea is a difficult task. The sea is flat, expansive and devoid of any terrain variety. Anything sitting on the surface of the ocean naturally stands out—making it a big fat target.

Rather than fight this truth, the inventors of so-called "Dazzle" camouflage accepted it and moved on. While it may be impossible to hide a ship, it is quite possible to make an observer's job more difficult.

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Dazzle camouflage does two things: First, it breaks up a ship's profile to make it hard to identify. In fact, it's hard to look directly at ship painted with Dazzle and not the focus on the painted lines instead. This buys time for the bedazzled ship while its opponent is furiously trying to figure out what kind of ship is bearing down on him. Secondly, when used effectively, Dazzle can also confound an enemy's ability to gauge a ship's speed.

The French light cruiser Glorie served with Free French forces, providing naval gunfire support both at the landings at Anzio and the south of France. It was one of thousands of Allied ships during World War II that sported Dazzle camouflage. The video above shows just how useful Dazzle was, and how hard it was pick out details on the cruiser even at point-blank range.

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