How the China Fleet bluffed a French squadron at Pulo Aura

Did warships ever win a battle by looking like civilian ships?

Pulo Aura reversed the premise: armed merchantmen looked enough like warships to bluff a stronger French squadron into retreat.

Commodore Nathaniel Dance formed the largest East Indiamen into a line of battle, redistributed men and guns, and fired as though commanding a naval squadron. Rear-Admiral Linois mistook the merchant fleet for a stronger Royal Navy force and withdrew. The bluff protected one of Britain's most valuable trading convoys without a conventional naval battle.