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The
Development of Naval Camouflage 1914 - 1945
Part IV: United States Navy - The Interwar Years
By
Alan Raven
(Article
reprinted courtesy of Plastic Ship Modeler Magazine issue #97/2)
unsuccessful
because the Bureau of Ships formally gave him permission io use this new
camouflage throughout the fleet at his discretion. The new camouflage was known as Measure 12, as it fell midway
between Measures 1 and 2.
Meanwhile the Pacific Fleet under the command of Admiral Kimmel had to wait
until early summer before it received stocks of the new colors, and subsequent
repainting into the new measures. Photographic
evidence suggests that virtually all of the ships of the Pacific Fleet had
repainted into Measure 1 (overall Dark Gray) by late summer.
As for the Asiatic Fleet under the command of Admiral Hart, stocks of the
new colors never arrived. His ships
soldiered on until late in the year in their pre-war #5 Navy Gray.
Only in November did the ships change color, and then it was to an
entirely unauthorized color, the stocks for which were procured locally.
The few ships of the Pacific Fleet that did not don Measure 1 served as vehicles
for new experimental colors, some of which were submitted and subsequently
approved for widespread use. These
were 5-H Haze Gray, and 5-S Sea Blue. Both
had a strong purple blue tint. The two new colors were issued to the Atlantic
Fleet for use as desired in early July. About the same time several submarines
working out of Pearl Harbor were painted overall in the improved formula for
Pearl Harbor Blue. In addition, two
destroyers of the Pacific Fleet were painted overall in Sapphire Blue, a very
intense ultramarine blue. Thus by
August there were no less than eight colors being played with, scattered among
solid and graded measures in the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets, and much more was
to come by the end of the year. The
eight colors were (in order from dark to light): Black, Pearl Harbor Blue, 5-D
Dark Gray, Sapphire Blue, 5-S Sea Blue, 5-O Ocean Gray, 5-H Haze Gray, and 5-L
light Gray.
In the Atlantic, Admiral King had virtually dispensed with Measure 1, with the
fleet now painted in Measure 2 or Measure 12.
For those ships in the latter camouflage the new colors (from dark to
light) were: 5-S Sea Blue, 5-0 Ocean Gray, and 5-H Haze Gray.
By the autumn of 1941 Measure 2 had disappeared from the scene, and ships
had begun to employ the new dark blue (known as Navy Blue) developed by King in
mid year. Known as Measure 12A the colors were 5-N Navy Blue, 5-0 Ocean
Gray, and 5-H Haze Gray. Throughout
1941 and into 1942 there were considerable problems with the qualities of the
paints due to the degree of glossiness; the degree of matte (which led to
adhesion problems) and differences in the amount and types of tinting mediums
(these led to differences in color and durability).
Due to Admiral King's personal interest in camouflage, subsequent experiments at
sea in the Atlantic, followed by his recommendations, Measures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, and 8 were discontinued, as were the colors 5-D Dark Gray, 5-L Light Gray,
and #20 Deck Gray. Colors now
approved for general use were 5-H Haze Gray, 5-0 Ocean Gray, 5-S Sea Blue, Black
(for submarines), and for the decks of surface warships, 20B Deck Blue.
Of the original measures, only Measure 9 (for
submarines) remained, while four new ones were formally approved and introduced
into service. They were:
Measure 11 - To paint all vertical surfaces 5-S Sea
Blue.
Measure 12 - To paint vertical surfaces in three
horizontal bands using 5-S Sea Blue, 5-0 Ocean Gray, and 5-H Haze Gray.
Measure 13 - To paint all vertical surfaces 5-H
Haze Gray.
Measure 14 - To paint all vertical surfaces to top
of superstructure 5-O Ocean Gray, masts and yards in 5-H Haze Gray.
The dropping of Dark Cray was at odds with the needs of the Pacific Fleet, which
required a very dark paint for use in strong sunlight as the best for
concealment purposes, especially when seen from the air.
However, during the summer months they had experimented with two other
colors as possible substitutes for 5-D Dark Gray.
One was 5-S Sea Blue, a medium dark purple blue, and the second was the
very deep ultramarine blue (Sapphire Blue) suggested in the 1939 experiments and
actually tried out in the Atlantic by King on the AUGUSTA in mid-1941.
Experiments with Sea Blue (named during the summer months as Measure 1A)
compared unfavorably in the Pacific Theater to Sapphire Blue (named Measure 1B).
Only a handful of vessels were painted in Measure 1A and only two, the
destroyers DRAYTON and WINSI.OW, in Measure 1B.
IB, Sapphire Blue, was immediately judged to he far superior to the new Sea
Blue, and to the old Dark Gray. But,
unfortunately insurmountable problems arose with excessive fading, so much so
that despite it being the best color tried to date, it was never applied to more
than the first two destroyers.
Faced with the phasing out of the Dark Gray, and with Sapphire Blue being
unacceptable due to fading, the Pacific Fleet formally adopted Measure 11, Sea
Blue, (formerly Measure 1A) in mid-September 1941, but allowed the Fleet to
remain in Measure 1 Dark Gray for as long as paint stocks would allow.
Wood decks were not to he painted with 20B Deck Blue, hut were left in
their natural color until tests with 20-B were conducted. Fortunately, by late
1941 the new 5-N Navy Blue had become available in the Atlantic, used there in
Measure 12. It was first applied to
a Pacific ship in the first days of December.
This was the destroyer FLUSSER which was painted overall in the new
color, the scheme was named Measure 1C later in 1942 formalized as Measure 21.
In the Atlantic, Admiral King (like Kimmel) was unhappy with Sea Blue, primarily
because of fading, and by it not being dark enough. He officially ended the use of
Sea Blue in early November, having formally replaced by 5-N Navy Blue,
although Sea Blue continued in use on some vessels for many months until
supplies of Navy Blue became available. Where Navy Blue was used in place of Sea
Blue, Measure 12 became known as Measure 12A.
By September 1941 it was believed that some degree of disruption of a ship's
course and identity might be achieved on Measure 12 camouflage if the straight
dividing line between the Navy Blue and the Ocean Gray be broken up by extending
the two colors into each other in splotches about 1/3 the area of a rectangle
12" high by 20" long. If
this was done correctly, it would give a wavy line on cruisers and large
vessels, and on destroyers with less than 12' freeboard, a splotched or dappled
hull. On November 4th these instructions were issued in the Atlantic Fleet and
ships soon began to show this revised scheme (Measure 12R) during the following
month. The Pacific Fleet did not
employ Measure 12 or its late 1941 revisions, preferring the solid tones of
Measure 1, or 1B or 1C.
As
far as the Asiatic Fleet was concerned not only did they not perform any
experimentation but as late as November the fleet was still painted in the old
#5 Navy Gray. So frustrated was
Admiral Hart that in October he ordered the purchase of local commercial paint
and proceeded to have a color produced that was midway between Sea Blue and
Ocean Gray. He then had the ships
painted in this completely unofficial tint, which he named "Cavite
Blue".
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