- Study conducted by Aston University and Abertay University researchers
- They found that World War One dazzle ships weren’t as effective as originally thought
- Geometric shapes, angles and colours were intended to confuse enemy submariners.
Researchers from Aston University and Abertay University have found that World War One dazzle ships - vessels painted in a type of camouflage pattern to make it difficult for enemies to identify and destroy - weren’t as effective as originally thought.
The ships were named after the distinctive paint style of contrasting patterns and colours at striking angles. The various geometric shapes, angles and, in some cases, colours were intended to confuse enemy submariners peering through periscopes, making it hard for them to identify ships and confuse their calculations about the target's speed and direction.
The concept, which has been credited by some to the biologist Graham Kerr and by others to the artist Norman Wilkinson, was developed during the First World War when the British fleet was facing the threat of German U-boats. However, although test facilities for model ships were used on both sides of the Atlantic during World War One, no quantitative data were recorded at that time.
The article, ‘Dazzle camouflage: Benefits and problems revealed', has just been published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. The authors created a computer model of the ship, RMS Mauretania, which was put into service as a troop ship by the British government during the First World War. The team 'painted' her in various achromatic dazzle camouflage designs and then presented these on computer displays at directions around the clock and asked 16 participants to indicate the direction in which they thought the ship was travelling.
When they reviewed the participants’ feedback, they found that those which included a texture gradient in the camouflage pattern were seen to twist away from their true direction, exactly as intended. However, they found that the benefit of this was largely masked by another effect that they called the ‘horizon effect’ or ‘hysteresis effect’. This is the tendency for perceived direction to be drawn to parallel the horizon regardless of camouflage.
Their analysis showed that these two effects perfectly added or subtracted, depending on the true direction of the ship. This means the twisting dazzle camouflage would sometimes help the ship (by adding to perceptual horizon bias), but sometimes it could help an attacking submarine (by subtracting from perceptual horizon bias).
Professor Tim Meese from Aston University’s School of Optometry said: “If you ask me ‘did dazzle camo work?’ my answer is ‘yes - but the benefits from perceptual bias would not have been as valuable as the allied WWI navies would have liked!’"
Dr George Lovell, senior lecturer in Abertay University’s Department of Sociological and Psychological Sciences added: “Overall, we found that the perceptual draw to the horizon was less for our participants with greater maritime experience. Assuming this would apply to enemy sub captains, then this suggests that the dazzle camo would have been of value, though our computer simulations of torpedo strikes showed that this would be so only for fast and distant ships.”
The research paper is released just after it has been reported that Ukraine's navy has revealed a fresh paint job on some of its vessels, which appear to have adopted dazzle camouflage. In November 2024 the Ukrainian force shared images on social media showing versions of the paintwork.
Professor Meese commented: “Although dazzle camouflage fell out of favour between the wars, it is remarkable that the Ukrainian navy have recently shared images on social media where vessels are dressed in a form of dazzle. The precise purpose of this is not clear, but one expert supposed it might offer some protection against drones.”
Dr Lovell added: “Human vision won’t have significantly changed since 1918, so if it was fooled by dazzle then, it will be fooled now. The key question is whether targeting involves human perception and a prediction of future location. If a weapon (torpedo, missile or drone) is visually aimed by a human, then a misperception of direction could still be key. If the drone uses AI trained on natural scenes, then it could still be fooled by forced-perspective cues.”
The team’s study only looked at the impact of the camouflage on the perceptual bias of direction. Dazzle was also thought to have other benefits, including introducing uncertainty about direction and uncertainty and biases for the distance and class of ship, which are both important for estimating speed. Good estimates of both speed and direction are needed for successful torpedo strikes, and these and other factors await scientific investigation.
- Notes to editors
‘Dazzle camouflage: Benefits and problems revealed’
Royal Society Open Science
P. George Lovell Abertay University, Division of Psychology & Forensic Sciences, Bell Street, Dundee, DD1 1HG
Rebecca J. Sharman Abertay University, Division of Psychology & Forensic Sciences, Bell Street, Dundee, DD1 1HG
Tim S. Meese Aston University, Centre for Vision & Hearing Research, Aston Street, Birmingham, B4 7ET
Reports of Ukrainian images released on social media https://mil.in.ua/en/news/boats-of-the-ukrainian-navy-received-dazzling-camouflage
About Aston University
For over a century, Aston University’s enduring purpose has been to make our world a better place through education, research and innovation, by enabling our students to succeed in work and life, and by supporting our communities to thrive economically, socially and culturally.
Aston University’s history has been intertwined with the history of Birmingham, a remarkable city that once was the heartland of the Industrial Revolution and the manufacturing powerhouse of the world.
Born out of the First Industrial Revolution, Aston University has a proud and distinct heritage dating back to our formation as the School of Metallurgy in 1875, the first UK College of Technology in 1951, gaining university status by Royal Charter in 1966, and becoming the Guardian University of the Year in 2020.
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