Silly question...paints

On most kits they give the FS number, if starts with a "3" then its flat if it starts with a "1" its gloss but I don't rember seeing any navy ship that was not painted in a flat color.

As an ex Naval officer, the paints on all modern warships are of semi-gloss, to flat, depending on what/where their locations are of types of paint.

Hope this helps. Emai me if you want some more info

The important thing to remember is to achieve a scale look to the model. What I mean by that is when you view the model you want to think of it as being off in the distance. Looking at the model on your desk would be about the same as looking at it in the harbor. If you go with a gloss color you want to tone it down so it doesn't look like a toy. If you saw a ship out in the harbor it would look flat, even if standing next to it the color was gloss. Make sense?

There is on such thing as a stupid question. You also should consider the fact that ships should have some sort of weathering & esp WWII warships rust in places due to service in wartime