I have noticed a number of ship profiles in this
scheme. Is it just me, or does this not seem too
dark to be a good camo color? I know the USN
used it, but on most non-stormy days, the sky
and ocean are way lighter than this. It looks to
me to be no more practical than painting a ship
flat black. I cannot find any articles about why
this was selected and painted on warships. Has
anyone read about the reason why this was done?
Measure 21 – Navy Blue System was navy blue overall, including the decks. This measure was used extensively in the western and southern Pacific from mid-1942 through 1945 to minimize detection and identification by enemy aircraft. Measure 21 also proved effective under artificial illumination during night actions. Upper surfaces of aircraft operating from carrier decks were painted a similar shade of blue. Sailors were ordered to wear dungarees rather than white uniforms when topside.[8] This largely replaced measure 11.
Thanks for the info. I do know what it is. The why
has me confused. It's a great color for decks, and was
used with gray hull and superstructure, but, for my
money it's way too dark for the prevalent horizon
colors on most days at sea. It's not a coincidence
that most navies for the last 100 years have painted
their ships gray, and not dark blue-green.