Good question. As far as I know, only her port side was photographed and I've seen only two photographs (matching the scheme). As the Polish books draw heavily on other sources, I guess they took it from another publication or drawing, possibly a paper model? I know Java had a similar scheme which was
not symmetrical. Don't know about the colors. The Polish publication did miss that the De Ruyter had new cranes fitted prior to her loss, but as far as I can tell the Polish reference is pretty solid.
FYI, there is an excellent thread running on a Dutch navy forum right here showing images from books you can only get at specialized antique book shops
De Ruyter @ Dutchfleet.netJava @ Dutchfleet.netThere is a Profile Warship volume of De Ruyter with good text, but the image quality is
lousy.
Recommended publications are
H.J. Legemaate et al., 1999,
Hr. Ms. Kruiser "De Ruyter" 1933 - 1942, Asia Maior, ISBN 90 74861 15 6
J. Anten et al., 2001,
Hr. Ms. Kruisers Java en Sumatra, Asia Maior, ISBN 90 74861 18 0
Both are in Dutch but have many drawings and photographs. Printing quality is excellent. Also out of print.
A nice link is
http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Drawings can be obtained here:
http://www.modelbouwers.nl/tekeningenschepen.html They also have drawings of the
Fokker C-XIw reconnaissance airplane, of which only 15 were ever built and not present on the ships during the final battle.
It's also in Dutch, but self-explanatory. I suppose you have to email them to get the drawings.