Well I know that in July Admiral King ordered the Atlantic Fleet into Ms 12 and canceled all other camo schemes ordered in his jurisdiction.....
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/S19-7/1941JulyAtlanticFleetCamo.htmlThis was in accordance as he saw it with the previous Ships - 2 orders in January..
https://www.shipcamouflage.com/ships2_1_41_table_of_contents.htmBut obviously there was no Ms. 12 in the original Ships - 2 so between January and July there had to be info going to the fleets of the changes coming eventually released in the September Ships - 2 Rev.1
Late July, BuShips sends orders to cease production of 5-D Dark Gray and start 5-S Sea Blue production to Mare Island, Norfolk & Cavite.
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/S19-7/1941JulyBuShipsPaintManufacture.html We are now officially in the Sea Blue era..... (With notification of the impending revision to Ships - 2, although experimentation on destroyers was still going on in both fleets)
This notice was received by both Adm. King and Adm. Kimmel.....
In August, Mare Island rejected numerous requisitions for 5-D Dark Grey as they had been directly ordered to mfg Sea Blue and Hase Grey and discontinue Dark Grey....
At this point, almost immediately upon receipt of this knowledge, conforming to orders in hand, Commander Cruisers, Battle Force, Pac Fleet ordered the Helena while at Mare Island to repaint in Ms. 1 Sea Blue, on his own authority. (I guess he was seeing the handwriting on the wall) and to grab enough paint for a complete repaint if needed...
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/S19-7/1941AugustComCruBatForCL50Camo.htmlAt the same time BuShips sent an advisory to all commands that painted Blue decks were forthcoming for everyone except Aircraft Carriers and recommended that they repaint their decks at earliest convenience as soon as sufficient materials were available....
In September the larger ships of the fleet were requesting clarification of all the memos and orders being thrown around as far as painting their ships and clearing the confusion.... the Pac Fleet Destroyer experiments continue....
Late September, BuShips clarifies the confusion by issuing a directive for the paint production yards to issue Haze Grey and Sea Blue as direct replacements for Light Grey and Dark Grey... this should have clarified most questions as far as current paint schemes except for the destroyers assigned to experiment... It was communicated to all senior fleet commanders and naval district commandants.....
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/S19-7/1941SeptBuShipsPaintSubstitution.htmlAt this point there should be no confusion, the original Ships-2 substituting 5-S Sea Blue for 5-D Dark Grey was the orders in hand at the end of September in all naval jurisdictions.... Measure 1 was the overall dark scheme chosen for the Pac Fleet by Adm. Kimmel, and Sea Blue was the official dark color...
All ships had orders in hand..... (to be fulfilled at commanders discretion as supplies and time permitted)
Ms. 1 overall 5-S Sea Blue, with haze grey tops and, at this time, bare wood decks.... pending the first revision to Ships - 2 which they were being told was coming shortly.... (notwithstanding what ComCruBatFor ordered which he informed Adm. Kimmel of)
At the end of September, Chief of BuShips issues instructions for all naval commands and districts as to what the new paint measures would be for all new construction... included were Adm. Kimmel's preference for what would be called Ms. 11 and Adm. King's preference for what would be called Ms. 12 with specific instruction on how they are applied to the ships including deck paint orders..... using 5-S Sea Blue, no mention of 5-N navy Blue at this point
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/S19-7/1941SeptemberBuShipsNewConstPainting.html Existing ships would have to wait for the revised Ships-2 coming forth shortly.....
October, the September Revision of Ships-2 is issued to all commands to the fleet... establishing Deck Blue 20B as the color to paint all horizontal surfaces except for Aircraft Carriers....
It is clearly stated that Ms. 11 is a direct exchange for Ms. 1 except for the added deck paint... Ms. 12 is a slightly modified replacement for Ms.2 where the Sea Blue will cover the entire hull rather than from the lowest sheer line and the bottom of the hanger deck would be the hull line for Carriers...
These are now the orders in hand, which ship commanders had to repaint in given paint availability and time..... (and paint was now available at most naval yards as the production/distribution has been running for almost 4 months, 5-D dark grey was no longer manufactured, available nor in stock)
A week later, on maneuvers, the Oklahoma collides with the Arizona, crushing it's port torpedo blister and fracturing a few side armor plates....
November sees Arizona moving into DryDock for repair of those blisters and hull plates, this takes two weeks.....
At this time, Adm. King issues new orders to the Atlantic fleet on painting their ships this is the first mention of Ms. 12 (mod) using a darker blue called Navy Blue created by adding 50% more tinting paste to the standard base paint and painting the ship in "Splotches" he superseded all previous orders to the Atlantic fleet substituting Ms.12 (mod) for all units.
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/S19-7/13CL-41.htmlOverall, Arizona was in Pearl for the better part of November while being repaired. While in dry dock, there is the photo of her clearly in Ms.1 Dark Grey paint scheme.... and there is anecdotal crew testimony that she wasn't painted in blue while in dry dock...
The last days of November she sortied with the fleet for gunnery practice returning December 5th of which there are pictures that have been interpreted as Blue in Ms. 11 pattern there is also anecdotal testimony of the ship's attack survivors that clearly state the crew repainted her in bright blue in November.....
There is no evidence either documentary or anecdotal that 5-N Navy Blue paint was ever considered for the Pacific Fleet at this point in time.....
December 7th the attack....
December 13th 5-S sea blue was discarded and all naval ships were ordered to substitute 5-N Navy Blue for the Atlantic fleet and on the 16th the same orders were issued to the Pacific Fleet... All confusion is now gone, no major supply issues cause both colors are made from the same base and tint....
So in my mind it was the last 10 days of November when the AZ was repainted in Sea Blue....
Is my logic sound here?