steve5
what do you blokes think ?
Your model: Your choice.
Iowas wore blue decks until ±1946, exact times and reports vary. The wooden decks used a penetrating stain, so it was not a case of being able to scrape paint away.
There are conflicting contemporary reports that the Magic Carpet ships all had bright decks "holy stoned" by scrums of sailors--these reprots are typically from Army personnel being transported home, so it's all based on recollection.
Now, for the Deck Blue paint, all things are subjective. The paint chips scan a blue-black that's more "charcoal" than the similar aircraft paint. That's to my eye; others will differ.
My personal preference is to get a nice color photo of the Pacific, as top-down as possible, and match that. That's a subjective read of mine from looking at contemporary color photos. The deck paint and the Pacific ocean colors are a near match. Which is where the "black hole" Measure 21 paint scheme was born.
For my 2¢ a lot of modelers overlook the Magic Carpet time frame for capital ships. You get to use the 1945 fit of the ship, it's near always Measure 22, so not a blue-on-blue-on-blue blackhole. Also a clean look. And, the ships' names were painted in white 72" letters amidships just under the main deck line so as to help ferry loads of returning service men.
Modeling downsides: All a/c were put ashore, and really, all the AA guns were in canvas covers (ok, that might be easier than building fiddliy AA guns)