KevinD wrote:
Maarten Schönfeld wrote:
Up till end Feb 1942 she remained in overall light grey, and was first camouflaged in Fremantle then, when under repairs from the Badung strait battle. She was still in Fremantle when the rest of the fleet engaged in the battle of Java Sea.
Hi Maarten,
Was just rereading this old thread and the above old post of yours caught my eye. So, just to be clear, are you then saying the photos at these AWM links posted previously are not
pre Bandung Strait (as their captions state they are)?
..."
Hi Kevin,
I just received a nudge from Lars to chime in. Sorry, I hadn't noticed, I wasn't on alert to this topic, now I am!
From the Dutch sources I'm aware of there was no note of a splinter camouflage pattern being applied to Hr.Ms. Tromp BEFORE her repairs in Australia (Sydney) between March 4th and end of April. So this took place AFTER the Dutch surrender end of February 1942.
Until Dec 7th 1941 ther certainly was no application of camo. Several pictures I have prove that. On Dec 8th 'parts of the deck are painted green to be prepared for fighting actions.' From that moment until the time in Sidney no mention of any paintwork is made in the ship's diary. The source I'm referring to is the book 'De Tromp en haar Trompers', published in 2003. Jantinus Mulder was one of the authors. Book is naturally in Dutch.
'Cruiser HNLMS Tromp' was also published by the same person, in 2012. In that book no new data is added. So my conclusion so far has been that ther was NO application of any splinter camo before she went into repair in Sidney in March 1942. I cannot argue the fact that several other Dutch naval ships had received such camo befor the surrender (Java, De Ruyter) but that doesn't prove that this was also the case on Tromp, or does it? After March 1942 the ship has had several schemes before reverting to plain grey after WW2.
BUT: when going over closely to that first book of 2003, ther is one little photo plus caption that makes me doubt: next to the narrative on 22 February 1942, the day after the Badung Strait battle (not 'Bandung' - that's a town on Java!).
Attachment:
IMG_0592.JPG [ 217.21 KiB | Viewed 1109 times ]
This photo, now well enlarged, seems to show the Tromp with the battle damage of Badung Strait. The caption says:
'The ship as it was when it went on its way to Australia'. So that at least that would mean that my assumption hasn't been correct.
I would be very glad to see more consistent proof that the ship had been painted (and when?) between start of the war on 7th of December and before the Battle of Badung strait. So ther is still research to be done!