It is impossible to give any authoritative suggestions on paints for French warships of this period as no records survive as to what those colours actually were. So it is all at best informed guess work. From 1930 French warships were painted Gris Clair No1, but in 1940 some ships operating in the Atlantic were painted a darker grey, but I don’t know if that included the Bearn or not. I have seen Gris Clair No 1 described as a pale grey with a touch of blue and as a pale grey with a hint of green. There are some stills from a contemporary colour film to be found on the CASF French cruiser fans thread page 2 but the weather was foul so its going to make the grey appear a little darker than it probably was. The only other contemporary source I know are the water colours of Jean Blade which are reproduced in John Jordan and Jean Moulin’s book French Cruisers 1922 -56. One of which is the dustjacket illustration. I know relying on paintings or very early colour film is not ideal but in the total absence of anything else….
In my opinion some of Jean Blade’s paintings come surprisingly close in hue to the CASF stills. Others show a much lighter grey almost white. Close look at the watercolours I can see traces of blue in the grey and also possibly traces of green.
Sorry there is not the easy answer you were hoping for, but at least you cant be wrong...
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