We have been over this many times. I can't convince you that there are facts pointing to another conclusion than the one you reached, but for others I will review again.
I laid out the time-line of USS JUNEAU movements and operations with USS HORNET in this link and won't repeat it in total here...
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USS JUNEAU was in operational formation with USS HORNET TF 17 from 17 September 1942 until USS HORNET's loss on 26 October 1942. Almost six weeks in total. In that time frame TF 17 laid over in Dumbea Bay at Noumea, New Caledonia, from 26 September to 2 October 1942. More than enough time to have repainted the ship. It is silly to assume that USS JUNEAU NEVER was paint again since her repainting at Argentia on 15-16 June 1942. The specific War Diary entry ...
Monday, June 15 - At Base Roger (Argentia). During forenoon commenced painting a new camouflage on superstructure consisting of alternating irregular patterns of haze grey and off white. Exercised during afternoon at general quarters, abandon ship, boarding and salvage party drills.
Tuesday, June 16 - At Base Roger. Continued camouflage painting in forenoon. Exercised at general quarters, battery drill and fire drill in afternoon.EVERY USN ship did painting duties whenever there was a down time. Capt Swenson was involved in camo experiments starting in the Summer of 1941. He knew the key individuals in the Camouflage hierarchy of the USN. He selected the scheme above "Haze Grey and Off White" to support the "expected" operations in the North Atlantic while his ship was at Argentia. We really have NO idea of what this new superstructure pattern looked like. The 16 September 1942 photos at Espiritu Santos don't clearly show the pattern applied. His correspondence in the BuShip Files at NARA shows that he was impressed with the USN "Mountbatten Pink" painted ships he operated with when on the USS JUNEAU convoy escort mission to Brazil and believed it would be well suited for the South Pacific operations. His correspondence indicted that he either "wanted to" or "planned" to paint his ship in that scheme in late September 1942. The 16 September 1942 (the date of his Mountbatten Pink memo) was the day JUNEAU was at Espiritu Santos dropping off USS WASP survivors. The photo, also dated 16 September 1942, of USS JUNEAU in the far background of USS LAFFEY clearly shows a ship with well worn paint and some touch-ups already. The USS JUNEAU couldn't have touched up her camo scheme with onboard paint supplies, because she was ordered to remove "excess" paint at Balboa when she dry-docked for an overnight repair of a leaking fuel tank and needed local base supplies. The formula for Mountbatten Pink he stated in the correspondence was a Blue-Gray mix with Red added. Working out the ratios of Blue and Red added to the White Base Paint, the "Shade" would be lighter than the current 5-N and darker than 5-O. What Capt Swenson chose to repaint his ship to may never be known. But the three photos of USS JUNEAU taken on 26-27 October 1942 clearly show that she was painted in a solid scheme.
As for your "USS JUNEAU" photo (first image below) you say was taken from CV-6 that is one or TWO images (the other image is the second image posted) that only have been posted as thumbnails on the USS SAN JUAN website, I found one of these images (third images) in 80-G credited as being USS JUNEAU and taken by USS SOUTH DAKOTA. (I suspect that these images are frame grabs from a movie made from USS SOUTH DAKOTA? But have no proof of that) I went through the whole timeline (see the link below) to show that the images were both taken by USS SOUTH DAKOTA and are of USS SAN JUAN since JUNEAU didn't reach TF 16 until AFTER the last IJN attack on the Task Force. USS JUNEAU only fired at a couple passing IJN aircraft while in visual sighting of TF 16. In this (first) image the cruiser clearly is under attack, which USS SAN JUAN was earlier in the day, and maybe shows when she was hit. Compare the two images posted on the SAN JUAN website and notice the differences in the background sky and ocean. One image is slightly underexposed and one overexposed. One cruiser image is under a cloud bank and the other broken clouds.
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Attachment:
Juneau-lg.jpg
Attachment:
juneau2-lg.flipped.jpg
I will not question the memories of Vets that I have not met nor had a chance to converse with. When I talk to vets, like my uncles, I learned that trivial matters like "what" color of paint the equipment they operated with was painted, they have no idea or "simply" say "Navy Gray" or "Army Drab". I have no idea of what you asked or what they said. I do know that when Rod Dickson was researching the book he wrote on USS JUNEAU in the early 1990's, he consulted with several USS JUNEAU survivors for his book and they CONCURRED with his assessment that USS JUNEAU was repainted to a solid DARKER scheme. (Rod Dickson assumed it was Ms 21 5-N) Those vets were; Mr. Alan Heyn and Mr. Lester Zook. Your vets against those vets and the photographer aboard the TBM.
You and all modelers have to look at more than the memories of WWII vets. Modelers can't paint models from memories, specifically when patterns are involved. Sometimes official records are all we have. They need some aids to guide them. With USS JUNEAU we have three photos taken on 26 October 1942. From those images, USS JUNEAU was painted in a solid camo scheme, but what color is unknown.