Reasoning behind USN Camo Schemes

[Cliffy B]

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the "reasoning" behind the camo schemes the USN employed during WWII? I know some schemes were meant to disrupt the silhouette, others to deceive the attacker as to how far away the target was, and the like. But why were certain colors chosen/combined in certain measures? What types of environments were each scheme suited?

Ocean Gray and Light Gray: seems like an arctic scheme, was it?

Dull Black and Pale Gray: Huh? Does that really hide the ship from anything?

I'm just trying to understand the logic behind some of the camo schemes that's all. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

[Seasick]

I can't even begin to explain the reasoning. Many colors were picked for how they appear at night. Many ships had white painted mast, cranes and rigging because on moonless clear nights when the stars are out the white painted parts of the ship don't stand out in sillouette. Some cammo measures were designed to obscure the view of the vessel from the air, this is the case with several of the blue measures used late in the pacific war.

If you want to know specifics I'll recomend a nice book for you that has excelent details:

Naval Camouflage 1914-1945 A complete Visual Reference, By David Williams from the Naval Institute Press Annapolis MD � 2001. ISBN: 1-55750-496-2, Library of Congress catalog card number 20011089707

The book is great.

[Russ2146]

Following up on Seasick's post:

http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/ ... 15103.html
http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/ ... 15284.html

The above are the USS Washington

http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/ ... -1746.html
http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/ ... /6399.html

In this last picture, can you say if the ship in the background is on the horizon or is it closer? What type of ship is it? If you can't tell, that's the point.

http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/ ... -1064.html
http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/ ... /4064.html
http://http://www.historylink101.com/ww ... /3790.html
http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/ ... 9/455.html

I think these give the idea

I think

[John Snyder]

1. Be careful of Williams' book--it contains a lot of errors.

2. Read this treatise on the subject by Alan Raven: http://www.shipcamouflage.com/developme ... uflage.htm

[Tracy White]

Camouflage is designed to hide something against the background behind it. The problem for ships is that there are two environments they have to camouflage against; sea and sky. The sky is typically light, and the sea typically dark. So if you paint a ship dark, you hide it better from aircraft looking down, but give worse from ships looking at it from sea level. Vice versa, a bright ship will blend in better with the lighter sky, but stand out like a beacon against the dark sea. Compounding this you have night time, which saw a lot of search light battles before radar was fully employed, and in that case the darker the ship the better (which was why some were painted black).

Graded schemes were a measure of compromise; not perfect at either but a little better all around.

In terms of colors and regions, the lighter colors were good for the Atlantic and North Pacific with their increased haze and fog. Darker colors were better in the equatorial regions where the sun tended to highlight lighter colors more. That's one reason why the Atlantic fleet liked Sea Blue at the beginning of the war and the Pacific fleet hated it and even found Navy Blue lighter than they wanted.

Dazzle schemes threw the idea of concealment out the window and just tried to make it harder for the enemy to judge speed and direction. They tried to paint shadows and angles on the ships that would make it hard to determine what angle it was from the viewer, as well as the length (and therefore distance from the viewer) and speed. These were crucial issues for the early submarines that fired visually aimed torpedoes.

[Cliffy B]

Thanks for all of the input guys, it all makes a lot more sense now.

Question, if a ship is performing ASW patrols/Convoy escorts in the Caribbean, which USN or RN scheme would be the most effective? Threats are solely subsurface so I was thinking Ms-22 since its masks perceived distance. You also said that the Atlantic fleet liked lighter colors but that darker ones were useful for the equatorial regions. If the ship was meant to operate between Florida and the northern coast of South America what would be best for ASW camo?

[Russ2146]

You decide

http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/ ... /6661.html
http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/ ... /6662.html
http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/ ... 14135.html
http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/ ... 14136.html

Whoever does this website has difficulty recognizing ship types and/or labeling

[Tracy White]

Whoever does this website has difficulty recognizing ship types and/or labeling

It might not be them; many of the captions for photos at NARA are incorrect.