Royal Navy WW2 - CAFO 1112 - Camouflage of Sea-going Ships

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

As part of our ongoing work I was reading through some references I had in paper photocopy only. I decided to retype this one in full, partly to ensure it sunk in properly but mainly because the paper photocopy was a little poor in places and scanning it to have an electronic copy would likely have resulted in something fairly marginal to read.

Having done all that yesterday, I then decided to make the facsimile copy available for others to download.

Confidential Admiralty Fleet Order 1112/42 (C.A.F.O. 1112/42) is dated 11th June 1942 and post-dates C.A.F.O. 679/42 which may seem obvious looking at the numbers. C.A.F.O. 679/42 dealt with the camouflage of small ships at sea, i.e. destroyers and smaller craft, using 507A, 507C, White, Western Approaches shades and the "Standard Camouflage Colours" M.S.1., M.S.2, M.S.3, M.S.4, M.S.4A and B5. B6 is conspicuously absent from C.A.F.O.679/42 although it does seem to have been in use - just perhaps not on destroyers and smaller craft.

What's interesting about C.A.F.O. 1112/42 is that it comprises some principles of camouflage which are re-emphasised in CB.3098 the following year, and defines what the policy was for camouflage at the time, applicable to all types of ships in all waters. It also lists Emergency Designs to achieve one of four average tones of camouflage using only White, Home Fleet Grey and Mediterranean Grey for situations in which camouflage paints are not available or where there is not time to apply a proper camouflage pattern.

Download here for anyone interested:
https://www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk/pages/royal-navy-colours-of-world-war-two-c-a-f-o-1112-camouflage-of-sea-going-ships-june-1942

[Mick4350]

Thanks.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Of perhaps particular interest is this the part in bold.

The Light Reflectance Value (tone, in the language used in this document) of Alan Raven / Snyder & Short "507B Medium Grey" is 20%, whilst Snyder & Short's "507A Dark Grey" measures 8.2%.

The Light Reflectance Value of M.S.3. is 20%.

The values for 507A and 507C are documented in several official period documents as being 10-13% and 45% respectively. I have much, much more evidence I hope to publish soon which will prove that 507A and 507B were the same colour, but within the realms of this document alone, one would think that if the Admiralty already had a distinct blue-grey between 507A and 507C, that they would appear aware of that when writing C.A.F.O. 1112/42?

 

14. The following classification of designs is based upon the average tone assumed by a design

when viewed at the range at which pattern becomes no longer distinguishable.

CLASS EXAMPLE OR DESCRIPTION

(a) LIGHT TONE Western Approaches type designs, vide C.A.F.O. 679/42.

(b) LIGHT MEDIUM TONE Light Admiralty type designs, vide C.A.F.O. 679/42.

(c) DARK MEDIUM TONE General tone is equivalent to Mountbatten pink or colour

M.S.3. (C.A.F.O. 679/42 does not show these designs)

(d) DARK TONE Dark Admiralty type designs, vide C.A.F.O. 679/42

See also Part V below.

 

V. EMERGENCY DESIGNS : CAMOUFLAGE WITHOUT PATTERN

21. In the following paragraphs instructions are given for painting a ship with a simple equivalent

of each class of design described in Section III above, using only White, Home Fleet Grey and

Mediterranean Grey.

These schemes of painting will be of about the same value for concealment as patterned designs,

but will produce less confusion. They are intended for use when there is no time to obtain or paint to a

pattered camouflage design.

Little experience has been gained with these emergency designs and the equivalent (a) of LIGHT

TONE designs should not be applied to ships larger than Destroyers, except for special operations, owing

to the increased visibility in sunlight.

(a) Equivalent of LIGHT TONE Designs. All weather work should be painted pure white except

for a band right round the ship, extending from the water-line half-way up to the forecastle

deck or half-way up to the upper deck in ships without a forecastle deck. This band should be

Light Grey Admiralty Pattern 507C and should cover the boot topping (vide C.A.F.O.

2515/41).

(b) Equivalent of LIGHT MEDIUM TONE Designs. – All weather work should be painted Light

Grey Admiralty Pattern 507C except for a band right round the ship, extending from the

water-line half-way up to the forecastle deck or half-way up to the upper deck in ships

without a forecastle deck. This band should be painted with a mixture of equal parts Light

Grey Admiralty Pattern 507C and Dark Grey Admiralty Pattern 507A, and should cover the

boot topping (vide C.A.F.O. 2515/41).

(c) Equivalent of DARK MEDIUM TONE Designs. – All weather work should be painted with a

mixture of equal parts Light Grey Admiralty Pattern 507C and Dark Grey Admiralty Pattern

507A.

(d) Equivalent of DARK TONE Designs. – All upper works should be painted with a mixture of

equal parts Light Grey Admiralty Pattern 507C and Dark Grey Admiralty Pattern 507A. The

hull should be painted all Dark Grey Admiralty Pattern 507A.

(e) In all Schemes of Painting the undersides of platforms and horizontal projections, blast

shields, etc. should be painted White. All parts of a ship which are permanently in shade or

shadow should also be painted White.

[robgizlu]

Thanks for publishing this Jamie - as ever - utterly fascinating!

 

Rob

[MikeR]

Hi Jamie,

 

Any thoughts on Jupiter's 3-tone 1940 camo?

 

 

Traditionally it's been described as 507A/B/C. If we operate on the assumption that the lightest tone is 507C with the darkest as 507A, could the patches below the pennant number and above the galley chimney be an early version of the 50/50 mix as mentioned in the documents? There's also a darker, presumably 507A, patch partially hidden by the galley chimney on the lower part of the funnel. Javelin is behind and I'm inclined to say she was 507A at that point, although there is a certain similarity to the mid-tone patch on Jupiter's funnel.

 

Mike.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Hi Mike,

 

Hard to say really. The 1940 camouflage colours and "Flotta schemes" seem to use additional and/or different colours to those really nailed down formally in 1941 and 1942. I'd be lying if I claimed to know much about them at this stage in my learning / development to be honest.

 

I would agree that Javelin is very likely to be in Home Fleet Grey though (or Dark Grey or Dark Grey, Home Fleet Shade depending on the exact reference!).

 

 

[MikeR]

No probs, Jamie!

 

Jupiter's camo scheme was something that popped to mind when the discussion about whether "507B" actually existed came up. It's the best example of a 3-tone, light-medium-dark pattern I can think of.

 

Mike.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I am considering doing likewise with C.A.F.O.679/42, CB.3098/43, with 1945 and 1954 updates, both of which describe painting orders for destroyers and smaller craft in quite some detail and each comprises a series of standard camouflage designs using the promulgated colours.

 

These could help the modeller "reverse engineer" black and white photographs by comparing the shapes and tones of the designs to the standard designs in use.

The WEM prints of CB.3098 back in the day used scans of the colour plates. The differences between the old printed inks of the plates and the Snyder & Short colours make the interpretation a little awkward though. AFAIK nobody has done the same with C.A.F.O. 679/42 or the 1945 and 1954 editions of CB.3098 which cover also the late-war G45 and B20 standard scheme A and B55 and B30 standard scheme B etc, as well as HMS Vanguard, Eagle etc in G35!

 

Any interest? These might not be free-downloads as it will be quite a number of man-hours to do, but would have redrawn illustrations for all colour plates.