The Ship Model Forum

According to the Raven books they used the standard Admiralty colours 507A, 507B and 507C which makes sense to me. The book cruiser by Mike Carlton on HMAS Perth describes it had two camouflage patterns with one of them a winning competition entry scheme drawn up by the crew. The cruiser HMAS Sydney also had camouflage on it. Several destroyers did particularly the ones that operated in the Mediterranean with the British and often came home with the schemes still painted on.

I recon the camouflage worked. From a distance it would confuse the number of ships, type, direction travelling and speed. It may make it harder for range finding from a U-boat forcing the periscope up longer to get an accurate bearing. Slowing down the enemy's detection and speed of attack was critical and it would have worked well like that.

I am surprised camouflage has not come back these days given the emphasis on stealth technology. All you have to do these days is open your eyes and you can see a ship no matter if it appears on radar or not.

Cliff,

This probably isn't the answer you were looking for, but this is an interesting HMAS camo scheme.

Another interesting photo I came across at NARA II was this one of HMAS MILDURA (J.207) in a photo dated 17 June 1942 at Noumea, New Caledonia. I actually came across two views of MILDURA in the same 80-G box, the first photo I passed up scanning. The first photo showed the ship in all white or very light grey paint job. Then I came across this photo of the same ship in a very fresh new paint job in what I thought was an unusual camo scheme.

Hey guys,

So what did the RAN use camo scheme and color wise during WWII? Did they just follow the standard Admiralty schemes or did they develop some of their own? Only "dazzle" scheme I can find it seems is a splinter pattern of 507A and C on their CLs. What schemes did they use and were they area specific? When did they start and cease wearing them? What colors did they use; standard RN or did they create their own? I know about Chicago Blue but were there any others? I've been looking all over and I can't find much of anything.

Any and all help is appreciated as always,
-Mike