War is an awful reality. Yet, when men are faced with extreme circumstances, their ingenuity is challenged, and amazing ideas happen. That’s the case with WWI dazzle ships, of which RMS Mauretania is the most impressive example. 

How do you hide an elephant on the beach? That’s near the challenge the Royal Navy faced during WWIi. Merchant and cargo ships were decimated by U-boats. How to avoid it? On land, you’d use camouflage, but that wouldn’t work in the openness of the sea. Lieutenant Norman Wilkinson, a creative mind, and a graphic designer by day, suggested covering each vessel with patterns that would make it hard to understand their shape and movement when seen through a periscope. Guess what? It worked, reducing casualties considerably!