I've been modeling for years, have just recently turned toward ships from planes so please excuse my naivette' if this is a newbie question:

In all the pics and footage of Pacific USN capital ships from WWII that did not have dazzle style camo very few seem to exhibit the blues that are called out in model instructions, websites, etc. Granted most pics/films are in black and white, but one gets the impression they are predominantly a shade of grey. Is this an illusion? Did the colors fade quickly? Has 45 years of cold war grey dulled my senses? Thanks!

Hey John,

Take a look here: http://www.ww2incolor.com/us-navy/

Thanks for that link Kenny, there were some great shots on the site. Color sure makes a difference. I think a big part of my color confusion is that I have seen a lot of USN photos that are pre-war - the pr stuff they used in the early '40s - and perhaps a good dose of hollywood too. Even at the Pacific War Museum in Fredricksberg, Tx I found very little to support the colors (once again theirs were a majority of pre-war pr pics) Prior to the link my best find was a flyover of CV-6 latewar in color with a very dark blue deck stain.

The link helped a lot! Now I can comfortably dive into my Baltimore and Missouri knowing indeed they were blue! Thanks for taking the time to reply!

John

Here's an additional site that should be of use:

http://www.shipcamouflage.com/warship_camouflage.htm

and here are the design sheets:

http://nautilusmodels.com/camouflage.htm

Great site WWII in colour! Got sidetracked there for a bit...

Most of the design sheets on the Navy History & Heritage Command site that the second link points to are also in the shipcamouflage database linked to above.

Also, Record group 80-GK is a collection of color slides mostly from WWII; the following site has scanned most of them in, if not all, and posted lower-resolution copies:
http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/archive/
In some cases the slides have aged, turning the color to a monochromatic red, but here's a couple more with blues for you:
http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/archive/NavalArchivePictures400449/425.html
http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/archive/NavalArchivePictures400449/443.html

Lastly, up until about early 1945 the Navy paints were based on a purple-blue color spectrum; the only difference between 5-N Navy Blue and 5-O Ocean Gray was the ratio between the blueish pigment paste and the white base. I've posted some of the Navy documents to my site here but one of the documents for you:
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/S19-7/1941JulyBuShipsPotentialPaintChange.html
Now, by late 1944 the size of the Navy was straining supplies of the blue pigment, and the Navy had learned a bit more about camouflage, so the decision was made to switch to neutral paints without the purple-blue tones. The order to start using these new neutral paints hit in late February 1945 and I have posted those document to my paint site as well; one of them is:
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/S19-7/1945_S19_631.html

Hope this helps!

Thanks for all the help/links and insight.

I think the color guides I have seen from Trumpeter kits have been a little too dark blue and I have to believe the colors faded quickly in the sun and salt. Is there a rule of thumb for lightening the colors to better accomodate the scale? (in my case 1/700)

JD