"US Navy Camouflage" Topic

"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 a light color officially known as #5 Standard Navy Gray but more popularly as "battleship gray." Standard Navy Gray worked well for ship-to-ship engangements at long distances in the daytime, but had some disadvantages. With the advent of the aircraft carrier these lightly colored ships stood out against a dark sea and became more vulnerable to the increasingly effective strike aircraft. Additionally, #5 had a gloss and reflectance the Navy found objectionable in night time engagements as it reflected searchlight beams very well.

As such, in 1935 the US Navy began to experiment with ship camouflage 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 Second World War and evevtually see a return to a single, light gray color after the end of it. But in those years camouflage was raised from merely artistic guesswork to equal parts art and science…"
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Amicalement
Armand