Dazzle weapons have been around for years on boats of differing nations and also the defensive measures that go with them - special visors, glasses and eye-patches! In fact, the great Archimedes used a huge mirror to dazzle Roman ships attacking his home port.
I remember the graphic description in one of the old CTTO manuals written by a blinded lab technician/scientist that described what it felt like - words like "I felt a popping sensation at the back of eyes, I saw some red bits floating and then it all went dark"
I'm pretty sure in '82 these types of early generation lasers did not generate anywhere near enough power to do permanent eye damage at range, and I also remember seeing the same training film with a test crew stating "Beeping hell, that is really quite bright and uncomfortable..."
These days, lots of ships sailing around the Horn of Africa have similar non-lethal weapons, such as lasers, sonic-guns, air bazookas and water jets. Nothing new really...
LJ