To foil German U-boats torpedoes during World War I, battle ships were painted with weird, cubic camouflage with bold designs and bright colors called "Dazzle" (or as the Americans called it "Razzle Dazzle").

Since the U-boats need to aim the torpedoe ahead of the moving ship's path, the idea was to make it hard to determine the ship's course.

Ultimately, advances in radar technology killed this high-fashion at sea. Link