 TEXT SIZE: small | normal | large | huge In cooperation with ShipCamouflage.com The following text is not complete and contains gaps that may make it confusing until finished. I wanted to at least get the information out in public for others to read and learn from. "Haze Gray and underway" is a phrase that most US Navy sailors in the last sixty years will remember. The slogan has its roots in the overall haze gray they spent a significant amount of time painting their ships in. It was not always this way, however, with many significant ships decked out in deep blues or so-called "dazzle" schemes not designed to hide the ship as much as its course and speed. The peacetime years between the first and second world wars was one where US Navy ships were predominately painted in #5 Standard Navy Gray, a light color that worked well for ship-to-ship engangements at long distances. But with the advent of the aircraft carrier these lightly colored ships stood out and became more vulnerable to the increasingly effective strike aircraft. As such, in 1938 the US Navy began to experiment with camouflage on some ships to determine good practices for the changing face of naval warfare. These experiments would start an explosion of camouflage that would slow down at the end of the war and evevtually see a return to a single, light gray color after the end of it. In US Navy camouflage, there have been four types used; solid, grade, pattern, and deceptive. A solid color is used against a background and usually does well against the background it is designed for. However, what works well against a deep blue sea will highlight a ship against the bright sky, and what merges a ship into the bright background of the sky will shine out like a beacon against the deep blue sea. Hence the creation of a graded scheme, which worked better in medium ranges agains both aircraft and surface craft. The bulk of the ship was camouflaged agaisnt the water by a dark hull and decks, and the superstructure would blend into the sky, making it harder for surface ships and submarines to see and identify the ship. Pattern camouflage was used mainly on amphibious craft or smaller vessels that would operate near shore and in rivers and were usually made from variations of green. Early experiments with "splotch" camouflage, what is called Measure 12 Modified or Measure 12 Revised tooday, were more of a pattern camouflage, abeit mainly because they were not successfull as deceptive camouflages, which is our fourth and final type. This type was not a true camouflage, in that it did not seek to hide the ship against its background. Instead, its purpose was to make it hard for enemy elements to accurately judge type, speed, course, and distance. It was particularly designed with submarines in mind as they needed to accurately judge speed, distance, and cource of their tagets if they hoped to strike it with a torpedo. Boldly contrasting colors such as light grays and dark blues ensured that a decent range of situations (a bright day or a dark night) were covered. Early in their camouflage experiments the Navy realized there was no "one best scheme" and that a variety should be made available for different regions and missions. They initially chose dark, medium, and light color system; a graded scheme with multiple colors, and deceptive schemes that sought to make one type of ship look like another. The results of the tests was first officially codified in a January, 1941 document titled "SHIPS-2." Released by the Bureau of Ships, SHIPS-2 was updated throughout the war with camouflage measures that were to be used on Navy ships from the smallest lighter to the mighty capital ships. The Navy had also experimenting with paint colors, changing the prewar #5 Standard Navy Gray for a variety of colors. The first three to be officially sanctioned were based on the #5 formula, with different amounts of a tinting paste mixed in. These mixtures formed 5-D Dark Gray, 5-O Ocean Gray, and 5-L Light Gray. It was decided fairly quickly on the east coast that 5-D was unsuitable, and a new color, 5-S Sea Blue was created. 5-D was ordered discontinuted at the end of July, 1941, and the Navy paint manufacturing yards switched to 5-S in its place. But even 5-S was unacceptable, and a darker mixture, designated 5-N Navy Blue was created in the fall and tested on some ships of the East Coast fleet. 5-S continued in use in an inconsistant pattern through 1942, but for the most part ships began transitioning to 5-N in their camouflage starting in December of 1941. The standard monotone and graded schemes were not viewed as effective against submarines. Consequently, the Navy began experiments with irregular patterns, starting with Measure 12 Modified in 1941, and with official dazzle patterns in the Measure 31-32-33 series in 1943. These patterns were not meant to hide the ship as much as make it difficult to gauge speed and heading; both needed to accurately aim a submarine-fired torpedo. Later in the war, these dazzle schemes became a liability by making ships stand out in the ocean for attacking kamikazes. The Navy began a crash program to remove the dazzle schemes and return the ships to camouflage that was better suited for anti-aircraft and anti-ship concealment. In late 1944 memos circulated directing that Measures 21 and 22 were to be applied while new paint instructions were being developed. These instructions hit in late February, 1945 (see document S19-7 Serial 631) and were largely the same as before, however the paint formulas had now changed. The Confusion:When the Bureau of Ships canceled 5-D Dark Gray, they only notified a short list of entities; The Chief of Naval Operations, the commanders of the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, the commander of the Navy air forces, and the three paint manufacturing yards. None of the regular ship yards or ships were told of the change, leading to confusion and a lot of extra paperwork. Because the manufacture of 5-D itself had been slowed down and delayed, the paint manufacturing yards were behind on shipments to other yards and ships, some dating back nearly three months. This, coupled with lost correspondence had lead the east coast paint manufacturing yard (Norfolk) to complain to BuShips about the time they were spending trying to clear directives up with the various commands, and BuShips subsequently ordered direct substitutions be sent out to expedite adoption of the new colors. Documents:
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