My apologies to everyone for failing to include a copy of the 1939 docking report…or rather, copies of the two 1939 reports. One covers a docking at the end of 1938 (the report was dated January 1939) and the second covers her big refit in Pompey in September 1939. As you’ll see, there is no mention of underside colour.
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and
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I’ve found no such report for 1941 yet, but we know for a fact she was drydocked at Rosyth and almost certainly had her bottom repainted.
So, what does this mean for Hood’s underside during war time? It means we don’t really know, 100%, what colour she was under the water. If I had to make an educated guess however, I would lean towards gray (maybe even black). It’s possible that the reason the reports don’t mention colours is because they retained the same colours. We’ve also seen anecdotal information that points to dark grey or black. Lastly, we have observations of the wreck. More on each below:
Anecdotal Info- In ADM 116/4351, some PofW men described Hood’s bottom as being black...some describe the bottom being painted black whereas others describe hull sections looking black (likely due to battle damage). Of course, due to conditions, etc., they could’ve also been seeing dark grey and battle damage. In another anecdotal account, we were also once contacted by a chap, with a model of Hood that had a dark grey or black bottom (I don’t remember which). He mentioned that an old fellow who used to be a dockhand told him that it was the first time he had seen a model have the correct color bottom (supposedly he had painted Hood’s bottom black or gray during the war).
We didn’t place a lot of faith in these reports as there was not much to back them up really, and earlier experts had been telling us she was red down below. Of course, we also believed expert opinion that she was medium grey...in short we’re only human and we do make mistakes.
Wreck- The stern is the best preserved section of Hood. It has intact wood decking, glass scuttles, degaussing cable, and lots of paint. It’s somewhat vertical position has made it difficult for the tides to deposit a lot of sediment (unlike other sections of the ship). In the footage/photos I have seen of the underside, there is no red (other than rust of course)… It’s dark and it’s highly suggestive of dark gray or even black. Admittedly, it’s hard to tell because of the lighting conditions and distance...But I suspect red anti-fouling which had been recently applied, would be readily visible. Here’s an unretouched collage (note: The ones in the wreck page(s) on the Hood website have been brightened/filtered to remove some of the blue/green water effect…but not the versions seen here).
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Just to double check couple of points regarding the bottom.
ships of the era with black or grey bottom? Or was that also on other capital ships like KGV, Rodney etc and we need to start adjusting ALL british capital ships in early 40s late 30s?
2) Isnt the usual aging process of red antifouling paint and its composition lead to a grey color over long time exposure under water anyway? So how can we use sunk Hood that spent so much time under water as an indicator on red paint that tends to go grey over time? You see what Im saying? ... is Bismarck all "red" under water? Typically the rust forms most on areas that burned I understand so thats your red or rust confusion.
3) Based on this picture I would caution against full black lower hull. A grey one is more reasonable, I think. See contrast between boot topping and lower hull below on a picture last taken of Hood... From Hood association page.
4) I am super tempted to repaint my Hood model now... anyone has 1/700 RN plimsoll markings?