"As with all countries that have had powerful fleets, German ships during World War II had distinctive features both in their choice of camouflage colors as well as their color schemes. But the Kriegsmarine camouflage history started from the relative simplicity of trivial grays.
It was 1896 when the best-known color scheme of the German Navy, comprising two shades of gray, appeared for the first time. It was later used in World War I, and then after some time was inherited by the Kriegsmarine. Ship hulls were painted in a dark gray color (Dunkelgrau 51), the superstructures and vertical elements of the guns—in bright gray (Hellgrau 50), the underwater body—red, and the waterline—gray. Auxiliary and small ships were usually painted in black color, with the addition of some small white elements. Later, the camouflages of all these ships were standardized. The color of the deck depended on the coating: steel—black varnish, whilst for wood—clear varnish.
Starting from 1916, and during the first years of World War II, for most of large ships, the horizontal lines on main battery turrets had the same color as that of the superstructures, with their roofs being of black color. Originally, white circles were drawn on the turret roofs to help easily identify ships from the air. Later on, the system became more elaborate—only some part of the turret roof could be covered with paint; in addition to the black coloring, gray, red, yellow colors were applied, and the circles were complemented with white lines. During the civil war in Spain, German ships serving in the conflict zone carried the three-colored German Imperial Flag painted on their roofs…"
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Armand
's first experience with 1:4800 scale naval models.
