"The diagonal black and white striping on capital ships was very harshly criticized but ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) assumed this to be an attempt at a disruptive pattern. This assumption was accepted by a number of artists and writers. Thus all of the kits of the battleship BISMARCK recommend this painting scheme in their instructions and their box art paintings usually show the ship under attack with the black and white stripes in place. Actually it appears that this painting style was a recognition marking and it was only used in the Baltic. Whenever fleet units based in the Baltic came out into the Atlantic the stripes were always painted out.