"Soviet navy colours?" Topic

I can't find many references to the colours used on Soviet ships.

I know they were grey, apart from the Tashkent, which was sky blue.

Anyone know which Tamiya or GW grey and blue is closest? What about deck colour?

The deck colour was red brown, but could vary due to paint shortages or local interpretations.
Soviet warships serving in the Black Sea were usually painted in pale grey. Due to the variation in photographic evidence due to many causes, age of photo, developing style, quality of the film etc it is often difficult to establish the exact shade. Like all things Soviet, what was available was what was used, so I would recommend following a general style of pale grey. However in winter ships were painted in a darker shade and again photographs suggest that some may have remained in that shade all year. The situation for the Black Sea Fleet, was always tenuous, so survival of the ship was more important than issues such as paintwork.
You would probably be pretty safe with mid grey ships, with red brown decks.
Tashkent was known as the Blue Destroyer because she was painted in an almost sky blue as an experiment in camouflage, before war broke out. Unfortunately there is little information on her scheme at the time of loss. However I painted my model of her sky blue anyway.
Camouflage seems to be more common among ships of the Northern Fleet, where light grey and dark grey were used in splinter patterns with dark blue or black. Again the decks were red brown, but there is some evidence that ships that spent a lot of time alongside the dock (Most of the fleet) may have painted some areas white during winter to blend in with the snow.
The Soviet Navy was a great ramshackle organisation pre war. The disruption of wartime, great shortages of material and so forth, prevented the fleet looking 'spic and span'.
Therefore if you seek authenticity, you should have some patches overpainted in a different shade of grey. The same applies to the decks, which are a colour described by the British as 'red lead', that being an undercoat. You should also be prepared to add some streaks of rust here and there.
The Soviet navy of the Black Sea was a hard fighting force, and although not 'pretty', probably bore the marks of shortages and no time for paintwork, with some pride.
The Baltic Fleet hardly left harbour and its morale deteriated so much that even in 1945 it was not prepared to challenge the Germans.
The Northern Fleet was badly led, its best men withdraw to send to the land fronts, and fuel in short supply. It spent too much time in port and the Allies had to station their own minesweepers in that region even though the Soviet Navy had a large number of them. From the few photographs available, the ships appear well painted, but one must remember that such photographs were often posed for propaganda purposes and would naturally be painted up well.
Verbal reports of the Soviet Northern fleet come to us via Allied Officers who went to the region and usually reported the Soviet ships to be in 'decrepit' condition, rusty and poorly maintained. On the few occasions they ventured out to help Allied Convoys they got into trouble of various kinds, got lost and had to be helped back home etc.

On the sympathetic side, one must remember that the Soviets had far more problems to deal with on land, so the Navy naturally got a lower priority for supplies etc. So if you want your ships to look 'genuine', dont make them look too neat!

Thanks.

Would Codex and Fortress do it for the greys, and Bestial for the red brown?

I'll be working 1/3000, so I'm not too worried about rust and other details.

I use Vallejo's Cavalry Brown slightly lightened with Vallejo Pale Sand for Soviet decks.

I just use what ever red brown or brick colour that catches my eye! The Soviets, as explained, were not terribly exact with colours. To be authentic, one needs to do the same.