"deck colours dutch destroyers / cruisers in the pacific" Topic

So, anyone know?

I looked for information on this a little while back and couldn't find much. I just went with natural wood on cruisers and dark grey for steel decks. I have since seen a reference that the Dutch put down some sort of matting over steel decks since they got too hot in the Pacific. A light, brownish color I believe?

Ken

As soon as the Japanese attacked in the Pacific, the Dutch stained their wood decks with the only dark thing they had lots of, crude oil. The Dutch sailors were ordered to scrub it into the decking. It definitely darkened the decks from the air, but imagine the inflammability hazard!!

That screaming sound you just heard was my hair catching on fire just *thinking* about the fire hazard (nevermind the severe problem with slippery when wet).

I thought it was funny that the explanation given for the wood decks on the Iowa-class ships when I took a tour of the Missouri was that the 2" thick teak decks helped keep the underlying steel from broiling under the tropical sun.

Yes, the crude oil was then scrubbed off, but it left a permanent dark stain on the wood.

Dark, when in doubt dark.

"Dutch Warships of World War II" By Henk van Willigenburg, published by Lanasta has lots of colour illustrations.

link

He has natural wood for both cruisers and destroyers in the Pacific.
Cheers,
Bertie

Can I assume from the title that the Willigenburg book is in English, despite being sold on a Dutch (?) language website?

Any idea of the quality of this book?

MH

MH,
I'm doing the Netherlands East Indies fleet and airforce in 1:6000 and 1:700 which is why I invested in the book.
It is very high quality. It is an English translation and contains many colour drawings, black and white pics from the period and 3D computer graphics. It covers the whole Dutch fleet in WWII including ships serving with the RN and ships taken up from RN.
Despite the adverse comment that I saw on this site about De Ruter's camouflage scheme:
link
the drawing that van Willigenburg has of De Ruters's port side seems very close with the photograph at this article:

The only difference being whether the aft dark gey/green extends a bit further forward and to the stern or not. Given the variations seen on the British, Australian and US cruisers over this relatively short campaign this is probably just a matter of timing, rather than accuracy.
My only general caveat with this book is that when it comes to the black and white prints they have obviously chosen the clearest, crispest pics that they can get, which is fair enough, but many of these are pictures of the ships before and after the war compared to the often grainy and censored wartime pics you see.
Cheers,
Bertie

Sorry, this is the article:
link

And, as an aside, you can now get Martin B10s in various marks and scales from Shapeways:
TMP link
Cheers,
Bertie