Hi all,
(Edited thanks to Brett's post below!)
Forgive me if this has been picked up before - I didn't really go through the whole thread - I just noticed that there was variation in Dorsetshire's 1941 camo scheme - specifically on the hull. The length of the lighter-coloured section varied - it looks like during the Bismarck operation it was longer.
I took a "screen shot" from the "After the Bismarck" British Pathe newsreel of her docked at the quayside and noticed that the lighter section began between the first and second portholes behind the anchors.
Attachment:
File comment: Screen shot of Dorsetshire quayside after Bismarck operation
Dorsetshire after Bismarck operation 2.jpg [ 223.62 KiB | Viewed 4474 times ]
But when I looked at two more broadside photos, it is clear that one of them has it starting much further back while another matched. The aft end point also differs.
In late 1941 (not as sunk!), it started just forward of A-turret and ended just aft of Y. Aoshima's Indian Ocean Raid model uses this scheme which is incorrect for the as sunk depiction.
But during the Bismarck operation in May 1941, that section ran from just behind the hawsepipes to just a few portholes forward of the stern walk. (So if Aoshima uses the same scheme for both models, it will be wrong for both!)
Some photos I've seen suggest there may have been 3 shades used (as suggested by Monty Mills’ illustration) – such as the photo on the worldwar.co.uk Dorsetshire page makes it look like there are 3 shades.
https://www.world-war.co.uk/Dorset/dorset.php3 (second photo from bottom)
But another print of the same photo which (from Raven & Roberts) is posted on P.9 of this thread looks like 2 shades and states in the caption that the darker shade may have been Mountbatten Pink rather than Home Fleet grey as one might initially assume.
MBP was in used in a number of Home Fleet cruisers in 1941 – Aurora, Galatea, Manchester to name some – so why not Dorsetshire?
So, is it 2 or 3 shades? Is the photo on the WW2 cruisers site a case of B&W photo variation causing it to just look like 3?
In any case for May 1941 and late 1941, there is undoubtedly a difference in the hull pattern, with the former fit having a longer lighter-coloured streak along the upper hull.
Thoughts?
Paul