For Operation 'Sho-Go' (Leyte Gulf in Oct 1944), Yamato's decks were painted a dark, almost black, gray color.richter111 wrote:ok so the $64K question, the decks, what color in the end, soot covered wood? That seems to be what I have discovered
For Operation 'Ten-Go' (April 1945), her decks were painted a very light gray. The 2005 Japanese film Yamato depicts the deck as being a medium-light wood color. Either way you can't go wrong.
They were definitely NOT 'soot-covered', NOR did the ship have any rust color ANYWHERE. The Yamato was the flagship of the IJN, a national treasure, hardly ever in action, and REPAINTED EVERY TIME SHE WAS IN PORT FOR A FEW MONTHS. When she went down off Okinawa, she was every bit as gleaming as she had been 4 years earlier at her launching.
I say this because occasionally I'll see someone with a Yamato model showing reddish 'rust' in various places, and it makes me want to SCREAM!! This ship was THE crown jewel of the IJN. She was never neglected in ANY way, and her crews had better food than the crews of any other IJN ship except maybe the Musashi.
Here is a link to the page on my Yamato site to the latest Japanese diagram of Yamato's deck in April 1945 - pay particular attention to the number, location and shield type of the AA machine guns on the deck:
http://ultimatebattleshipyamatosite.tri ... ?i=112&s=1
Make sure you click on the 'view full size image' on the lower right of the photo.
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. On Steel Navy message board we had, John Snyder, Al Torres and myself a debate about her deck colour during Ten-Go and we all agreed on the fact that she was more likely in her natural faded Hinoki Cypress colour, which turns to light grey. Could you please, tell us how you came to the conclusion of a light grey painted deck ? Any evidence would be very much appreciated.
