Amphibious ship Green colors

[ArizonaBB39]

Hey there all, does anyone know what color would be used on the decks of a ship painted in 5-OG (green) or the amphibious green/brown 'dazzle' scheme? Deck blue, or is there a Deck green?? I hope that makes sense, thanks in advance

[John Snyder]

Hi Abram,

20-G Deck Green. In our Colourcoats enamels, that's item US 16.

[Michael Potter]

Other than black, what colors are here on USS LSM 152? The photo appears to be from a series shot 25 July 1944:

[Tracy White]

I'm going with Haze Green, Ocean Green, and Navy green instead of black. I have not done any archival research on amphibious camouflage though, just picked up random documents in other searches.

[John Snyder]

That's Design 10L, and probably applied in Measure 32. Colors would be BK Black, 5-OG Ocean Green, 5-HG Haze Green, with 20-G Deck Green horizontals. I've got the design sheet for Ms.31-10L, where the greens are 5-OG as the lightest and 5-NG Navy Green as the darkest green, with BK Black, but those would be too dark for this photo; hence, Ms.32 seen here.

[Tracy White]

I remembered coming across this a while back and thought it might be part of the design sheet in question, but after I finally found it I saw it was a general instruction. In case it's of use for someone:

Ms 31 Splotch pattern.jpg

[Rick_H]

Other than black, what colors are here on USS LSM 152? The photo appears to be from a series shot 25 July 1944:

That's an interesting photo. It looks like there are a lot of crewmen standing in plain view, but their colors don't make sense to me. If it were thirty years later, we could assume they were in Summer Blue (white shirt and black trousers), but that uniform didn't exist in 1944. It seems to me that if they are indeed US sailors, the colors would be light blue shirts and darker blue dungarees, and from this distance, nearly no color difference. Based on that, I wonder if this photo may have been colorized, with a fairly heavy hand?

I considered Summer White, since they are off Charleston Navy Yard, but it doesn't look to me that they have white pants.
Rick

[Timmy C]

There's definitely been some work done to it - the original print on the NHHC is much more subdued. However, in that one you can maybe see hints of blue (especially that guy on the bridge, facing away from the camera).

[Rick E Davis]

Tommy,

Keep in mind that the NHHC color images are scans of Prints they had made from the ORIGINAL transparencies years ago. I have had some original transparencies scanned in the past, and the comparison to the NHHC Print Scans and NARA Slide scans (by History 101 or others) is quite noticeable. I don't know where wiki got the 80-GK-14463 image they have, likely the image is a scan from a slide at NARA or someone paid to have the original transparency scanned. In either case, you may be right that the image has been "tweaked/adjusted".

The "white shirts" could simply be T-Shirts. I have seen photo of sailors wearing white T-Shirts particularly in hot climates. The ship is still in shakedown and no real need to try to conform to camo directions on uniforms.

This photo of USS MEMPHIS was labeled as being taken in 1942, but I suspect it could date from 1941 while she was on South America Neutral Patrol. However, the image of USS MOFFETT was taken in early 1943 and you can see sailors wearing White T-Shirts.

[Rick E Davis]

LSM-152 color image during July 1944.

Here are two a crop views of a scan of the original transparency, 80-GK-14463, at NARA. When you compare the image from above to this one, there is quite a bit of differences in color tones. The images previously posted came from the scans Chuck Haberlein made from color prints of this same transparency. You just can't trust the colors, even in color images.

k14463.jpg

In the discussion about the color of the shirts. The close-up crop shows that many of the sailors are wearing white T-shirts while a few are wearing denim blue work shirts. What to me is real interesting is the guy at the bow wearing a "Blue-&-White" Striped shirt.

I'm pretty sure this is a completion or post-yard period trials cruise image, taken prior to a Shakedown Cruise. LSM-152 was built at ChNY and commissioned on 22 July 1942.

[John Snyder]

Though I haven't yet come up with the pattern number, I'd say it's a Measure 32 scheme using BK Black, 5-OG Ocean Green, and 5-HG Haze Green.

[raggs]

I honestly thought this was a diorama on first glance.

Interesting paint scheme. I have seen the blotch/spotted spotted schemes in different configurations and colors for Amphibs,
but short of digging thru the the national archives, can never come up with the measure number.
(LCI-772 on Navsource is a good reference)
Some of these measures have spots inside the spots, but these are mid/late-44 pics.

Whats further interesting about this pic is the year said to be photographed & paint on the bow.
This is a great contrast pic. Subdued light. Nice setting.
1942, no way, she wasn't built. Early/Mid 1944 yes.

To me, the darker color on the lower port door is not black.
It doesnt match the black further down the hull on the portside.
The Haze green or Ocean green above it matches the same color down the length of the hull.
As does the black located aft as compared to behind the bow doors.
The dark green ( OG ) stripe or splotch seems to be amidships.
For the bow paint, possibly its' Navy Blue?

The dark schemes applied to Measure 31, correct me if I'm wrong.
So seeing this, Id guess at; Black, Navy green, Navy blue and Haze or Ocean green.

One other thing I noticed is how the bulwarks on the inside of the loading bay are not camo'd.
The 1 or 2 schemes I have found have these painted in a camo pattern relevent to the outside.
These here are painted in Haze/Ocean green as the "base", nothing to contrast it.
But there is something written, in perhaps chalk, on the bulwarks if you look close.

-Paul