Originally Posted by tiger1964

OT, but I've read a bit. Predates radar. Apparently this confused eyeball recognition of ship size, made it hard to tell where the ship began and anded; some opponent thinks he;s attacking a cruiser and -- oops! -- finds out he's taking on a battleship.

Not sure if there's a bicycle equivalent (uh, maybe thinking you'll easy outrun that Huffy only to find out it's full-Campagnolo?)