Mr. Church wrote:
Next question is what colour were her anchor chain rubbing strips on the forecastle deck? In the footage of her being towed to the breakers in 1960 they appear to be a milk chocolate brown colour with the surrounding deck plating a medium grey colour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db6bgu0gs-gThe grey is probably faded dark deck grey as Vanguard had been in reserve for a few years prior to the film being recorded. Anyone know off-hand if the rubbing strips were the same brown colour when she was in active service? Thanks.
Turns out I can now answer one of my own questions from August 2019 thanks to gettyimages. They have uploaded some beautiful colour photos of H.M.S. Vanguard in service that I'm sure were not there when I searched before. Including one showing the anchor rubbing strips:
https://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/news-photo/aerial-view-of-the-recently-commissioned-royal-navy-fast-news-photo/1304885893See low resolution extract from photo here for discussion purposes only, copyright rests with gettyimages:
Attachment:
HMS Vanguard anchor rubbing strips.jpg [ 79.62 KiB | Viewed 12895 times ]
The anchor rubbing strips are definitely brown, same or very similar to that seen in the videos and photos of her in reserve in later years.
Interestingly also the dark grey on her forecastle deck seems darker than that on the roofs of 'A' and 'B' turrets. Hard to know is it intentionally a different & darker shade of grey or a different grade of paint? Or has it simply been repainted more recently than the turret roofs?