Measure 21 detail

See if you can find any of the Squadron profile books on WW II ships and check the camo schemes and see what Measure 21 looks like on any ship of the day. It should be the same for Battleship/Cruiser/Destroyer. They have some good color pages and they do their homework ....

I've actually purchased two of the "Heavy Cruisers in Action" books but, unfortunately, the color views are profiles with no detail on the turret tops. I appreciate the suggestion though!

I have the two battleship profiles at home. I'll check tonight and see if they are any help.

It varied from ship to ship, but turret tops were quite often deck blue. The truth of it is Deck blue and Navy blue are so close in shade it may be hard to tell.

As Tim said, the purpose of Deck Blue was to blend the ship in with the water when seen from above. If anything, 20-B is actually darker in color than 5-N, with a more green tint to it.

It was standard practice to paint all horizontal surfaces 20-B. Simply because it's called Deck Blue is a misnomer.

The reasoning was thus: 20-B was often mixed with an anti-skid additive (usually sand) to provide some traction.

Jeff

PS: Tim, you pilfered my anchor!!! :-)

QUOTE: Originally posted by Jeff_Herne PS: Tim, you pilfered my anchor!!! :-)

Guilty as charged. But I wasn't the only one. Besides, like you said in another topic: We need it to "beat" them senseless.

I reviewed about 8 books and every one of them said Measure 21 is overall 5-N or overall Navy Blue, the same thing. Most of the photos were B/W, but overhead shots on every ship showed an even tonal value everywhere, including turret tops, on battleships, cruisers and destroyers. All the dialog said the scheme was effective against aircraft by blending the entire ship into the water when viewed from above, like Jeff noted. Anyhoo ... that's where i weigh in on the whole thing.

Thanks for the help, everyone. Looks like I'll be masking and painting the turret tops Deck Blue.

That's the proper Navy thing to do...

I've spent the better part of my life researching and writing about USN WW2 camo practices. If you have any other questions, let me know.

Also, there will be a new book coming out later this year on the subject...

The guy who's writing it is a bozo though, so be forewarned...

Jeff

exp101, I found some war photo's of the Louisville at navsource.org, they are B&W but one dated Dec 17, 1943 clearly show a measure 32 design 6d scheme. Here is the link:
http://www.navsource.org/archives/04/04028.htm

Excellent reference, Dude! And the second and third shots clearly show a Measure 21 scheme, although they didn't say it in the caption.

Thanks Jeff, et al. The Louisville wore MS 21 from sometime mid-1942 until December of 1943 when it received a major overhaul (including totally revamping/repositioning the mainmast). At that time it also got the 32 d6 dazzle scheme. After it's go around with 2 kamikaze hits in the Lingayen gulf, it went back to the US for repairs and eventually set out for Okinawa (April, 1945, when my dad came aboard). At that time it was repainted in the MS 22. BTW, Louisville was hit by yet another kamikaze at Okinawa -- one that nearly took out my dad in his position in Radio II.

I'd dearly love to someday be able to build a 1/350 resin model of the Lady Lou in it's 1945 fit, but I'm not holding my breath!

Thanks again. This forum is great!

Jeff, since you offered....
Would the tops of the main battery gun barrels also carry the Deck Blue? I know, pretty nit-picky, but I really want to get this right down to the gnat's behind.

Thanks,
exp101

Yes, main gun batteries, and secondary batteries as well, would have 20-B on the barrels overall.

In Measure 22 or dazzle schemes, the lower half of the barrel would be whatever the predominate color was in the design sheet or superstructure background.

Jeff