A Question about the Town Class (4 Stacker) - HMCS Annapolis

[George W]

I'm building WEM's HMS Montgomery and the photograph below (dated Sept 11, 1944) is one of the few available of this ship and have a question about the colours. The pattern here is very similar to the Montgomery but the colours are much lighter. Since this ship spent its entire RCN service on the Western Atlantic due to boiler damage (hence only 3 funnels) I suspect the RCN may have used what paint was readily available. So based on the black & white shades, what do you think of the following options based on the lettered lines in the picture.

A - western approaches (green or blue) or perhaps light grey, 507C was an acceptable substitute for WA in the RCN
B - off white, this seems very definite to me
C - this area is a continuation of A
D - is the darkest colour and is the one I'm least sure of, perhaps it is admiralty grey, MS-2, or . . .?
E - looking at a clearer picture I think this is the same as B, ie off white
F - this seems dark enough to be the same as D

So what do you think would be the best colour combination?

The reason for wanting to build Annapolis is because it is the only RCN Town associated with Nova Scotia where I live. So far I have done 3 corvettes that were named after NS towns.

Best Wishes
George

[Rick E Davis]

George,

I can't help you with the color of the camo questions. But I was wondering if you were aware of the H.B. Jefferson collection of ship photos from WWII Halifax.

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/east ... sh#results

If you are not familiar with this collection, they have on-line thumbnail images of the photos this guy took, however you can order higher-res versions. Here are a couple of the views of ANNAPOLIS taken in July 1942 that they have. There are views of several Town class destroyers. In addition of interest for me, there are some rare views of early BENSON-GLEAVES from the early 1942 period.

[Admhawk]

I believe the colours are WA Green(darkest), blue and white. The pattern is similar to other WA patterns. The Peter Scott patterns that used grey show much more dark grey on the bow.

[George W]

Darren & Rick, thanks for your responses.
Rick, I'm familiar with that site (I originated the thread here) and had discounted it since Annapolis photos there were dated 1942 rather than 1944 and it had 4 funnels rather than 3 and no 271 radar. But I had not noticed how close the pattern was before albeit there were a couple years between the photos. Congraduations on your recent items in Warship International!

Darren, that looks like a very good combination and readily available and as you said, the greys would be much darker. That photo provides a better side angle and was obviously both were taken at the same time, thank you for providing taht as well!

Navy-history.net, Friedman's RN book (volume 1), and the MacPherson's books also provided some background. So I ready to go. Thank you again.
George

[Rick E Davis]

George,

Too many posts to remember everyone. I really appreciated the original posting for that collection. There are many very interesting photos on that website for not only USN, HMS, and HMCS warships, but also cargo/oilers/tankers as well. The image of BRISTOL alone was worth my digging through the whole series.

Part 2 of the article on USN aircraft-handling destroyer: FLETCHERS, should be out soon. From the appearance of the first article and after the Part 2 went to press, some individuals came forward with additional information/drawings that will be inserted into a "follow-on" Part 3.

[George W]

Rick, you are welcome! It is a small contribution considering the very large contribution that you make in answering the enormous number of board questions with photos, etc.