"Brit navy deck colour" Topic

Just curious, as naval war is not my scene.. but, from models, pics or box art… decking on 'modern' RN ships has seemed to vary… 60s, 70s, 80s…onwards.
Brown, green or dark gray. Were there any 'regs' for periods?

Generally speaking, in the 80s the 'older' RN ships would have been green and the newer ones grey. By newer I mean the Type 42s onwards for destroyers and Type 22s for frigates would have been grey. I visited HMS Glamorgan, a 60s County class in about 1983/84 and the decks were still green then, if that helps.

Brown would be corticine, a hardened cork/rubber mix which was used during WW2 but was, I think, out of use by the 50s.

Nick

Thanks. Was curious about the Brown… so 'Corticine'. Box art and painted models of Airfix HMS Leander, (L 1961),show brown decking.
I presume worn decking would be replaced on major refits.

Wondering about Whitby's, Rothsay's, Type 15's, etc. Most models are green.

Just to confuse things… some photo images of HMS Cardiff Type 42 seem to show Brown decking!

Photos cannot be relied upon due to Sunlight, Film processing, printing and now, computer alterations!
Some colours 'change'… greens / greys can take on tints from brownish / greenish to dark grey.

I am not aquainted with ships… but drove past Ark Royal on last Tyne visit… and hull was a darker shade than expected. I also noted how 'battered' hull plates seemed… NOT smooth! lol.

Just toying with idea of buying some 1/1250 60s / 70s frigates.

60s/70s RN frigates must be my favourite ships! But then I was 13 at the time of the Falklands/Malvinas War so that sort of made an impression and I'm fortunate enough to have visited both HMS Glamorgan (shortly after the war) and HMS Plymouth while she was a museum ship before being disgracefully scrapped.

I found this old thread which might help: TMP link

I don't think brown was in use at all by the 60s, but interestingly green decks seem to have been changed to grey on refitting (e.g. the Ikara/Seawolf Leander refits).

The man to ask is David Manley – I'm sure he'll pop in to add some clarity :)

Nick

Cheers. I find the era prior to the 'ship killing', long range SSMs, more interesting for a possible Cold War confrontation… and I just like the design of the old frigates. Plus… there were a LOT of them!

I was pleased to find a short clip on a 'Cine – VHS Video' home movie tape which showed Britannia entering the Tyne, with an escorting Frigate, from when I was a kid. LONG time ago!
Agree about Plymouth… think I signed a petition.

My only visit to a RN warship was to HMS Ocelot sub on a Tyne berth… but was too young to appreciate much!
Hey! Just Googled… and She's still there!
link

Your TMP link has a link to a page on HMS Broadsword. The pics really show the indented hull plates on a modern ship… surely cannot have been so when New?

Hmm.

I looked into this a while ago for my 1/1250 ships.

There were different rules for normal decks and flight decks. Also, earlier ships often had areas of wooden (scrubbed teak) deck.

Broadly in the 60s and 70s up to 1978, painted decks were a medium-dark green (BS381 226 Mid Brunswick Green) and helicopter flight decks a non-slip medium grey (BS381 632 Dark Admiralty Grey). In the early 80s that changed to all being grey.

After a bit of experimentation, using my preferred Vallejo paints, I chose; for the green 9 parts German Uniform, 1 part flat green and for the grey either 992 Neutral Grey or London Grey.

There was an earlier (from 1969) change for the hull and superstructure from the rather green BS381 697 Light Admiralty Grey to the modern BS381 676 Light Weatherworks Grey.

link

btw, the indented hull plates, 'starved dog' look may not have been there at launch but it doesn't seem to have taken long in the North Atlantic for that to appear!

I always thought the Airfix Leander box was mistakenly based on the red brown colour the decks were during construction and before completion?

colkitto.
That IS a possibility, though unsure about correctness.
It is well known that early Airfix researchers faithfully based several 1/76 AFVs upon extant vehicles… even though that particular vehicle was aberrant to the norm in some way!

"btw, the indented hull plates, 'starved dog' look may not have been there at launch but it doesn't seem to have taken long in the North Atlantic for that to appear!"

The "hungry horse" effect is actually a feature of thin plate welded ships from build rather than distortion in a seaway (although heading into the NA can make it worse.

Not much I can add on the deck colour thing – Leanders and earlier green, T21/22/42 and later dark grey (and earlier ships once through refit), flight decks dark grey. Simples :)

That said the dark grey used for upper deck coatings would weather quite quickly. I recall working on HMS Cornwall when she emerged from a DED after having had some of her deck coatings replaced. The new areas appeared almost black, areas painted the year before varied between a medium and dark grey whilst older areas had bleached so much that they practicaly merged into the light weatherwork grey of the superstructure.

"The "hungry horse" effect is actually a feature of thin plate welded ships from build rather than distortion in a seaway (although heading into the NA can make it worse."

That's interesting, thanks. I've never worked in a shipyard and was just going off what I've seen in photos and seeing ships after some time in service.

Looking through photos of various RN ships now, I can't find any that show this dished plate effect at launch though it is very clear in later photos of the same ships but, looking more critically, the photos I've found of launches aren't the best.

To hop on this subject: was The color of the flightdeck of Hermes and Invincible during the Falklands also Dark Admiralty Grey.

bought a complete Falkland set of 1/2400 British navy from QRF

Invicible def Grey… but maybe faded a bit.
Hermes… probably same… but an image of 'return to port' shows 'patchy' areas apart from flight deck.. Sorry, cannot post images, just links.

link

link

Hermes looks a tired old Warrior!

Note: At photo distance, any 'dishing' of plates on Invincible not visible.