"USS Washington Spring 1942" Topic

Does anyone have, or can someone direct me to, a schematic of the Washington's camouflage scheme whilst she was operating with the British Home Fleet in the North Atlantic? The few pictures I have of her mostly at Scapa Flow or Iceland show her in Measure 12mod, but don't provide enough detail to do a proper job.

I know she spent most of the war in Measure 22, and if I can't find a good reference for the earlier scheme I will go that way, but I'd like to make sure I've exhausted all possibilities before I give up.

I have a book (Battleship at War: the epic story of the battleship Washington) indeed shows her in measure 12. However don't know of the actual colors. I wonder if the U.S. Navy could help? I noticed you are in Washington maybe you could contact the Navy shipyard and get specific colors for the pattern. I'm in Kansas so no ships around here:)
Sorry i can't help anymore than that.

David

Where'd that link go… link

shipcamouflage.com is definitely your friend!

Lion,
Yep, I love me that ship camo page. Unfortunately, every application of Measure 12 mod is unique to its ship, so one really needs photos. navsource.org is also an excellent source. And seems to have added some juicy ones of Washington….

David,
Would you be so kind as to get me the ISBN number on that book, please?

The only number i can find on the book is 10406
the author is Ivan Musicant. Publisher is Harcourt,Brace and
Jovanvoich. Hope that helps.

David

I bought the book from a military history mail order
catalog about 15-20 years ago. I never noticed before but
none of the books i recieved from them have ISBN numbers.

David

Here's my painted USS Washington up for 1942 Home Fleet:

picture

Well, I'm not such a stickler for historical accuracy, but you might have some luck contacting one of the US Navy museums (especially the one in Bremerton), seeing if they have a photo or two of the Washington in Ms12. My last resort would be the Naval Historical Society.

Try "Warship Pictorial #29 North Carolina Class Battleships", ISBN 0-9745687-8-3.

This is a paperback booklet published by Classic Warships Publishing, which I bought from one of my local hobby shops (Ad-Venture Hobbies in Wheeling IL). Pages 51-53 have B&W images of both port and starboard sides and 2 forward views, for your desired time period, showing the "Measure 12 Modified" scheme. Whether they are detailed enough for your purposes, I can't say, but the book was only $20.00.

Mark Hinds

Have you tried looking at the pictures on navsource.org?

This link has some pictures during Washington's Atlantic service ( link ) . Navsource doesn't let you link pictures directly, but there are a couple broadside pictures on that page that will help out.

Dave

Have you tried looking at the pictures on navsource.org?

Yes, I even noted them in the fourth post down. They have some excellent pictures of her in Spring 42, and have added a few since the first time I looked.

I'm pretty sure of the hull at this point. But I've got little to go on the superstructure, where the haze grey layer meets the light grey at the topy of the superstructure. It looks like the haze grey forms an irregular partition between the blue on the hull and the light grey upperworks, running roughly along the decks where the secondary batteries are located. But most of the pix at navsource are too bright to tell much detail.

FYI, the images in the book I mentioned above are much better than those at navsource.org.

MH

Thanks, hinds. On your recommendation I just snagged a copy off Ebay.