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Postwar Essex class carriers (wooden deck) - colours?


bootneck

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I know that U.S. carrier deck colours reverted to grey from blue on the cessation of World War 2 but I'm not certain which grey. I have plans to build an Essex class carrier converted to the LPH role. As helicopter carriers they did not get the angled or steel flight deck upgrades of other CV- types so would like to find out which colour these wooden decked carriers would have been painted postwar.

There are two periods that I am interested in; a pre-LPH helicopter carrier (i.e. still had CV- allocation) of the Korean war era 1950-1952; and LPH helicopter carrier of the Vietnam war era around 1960-1965. Were these decks painted different greys for each of these periods, if so, does anyone know which one's? If they remained the same grey, which colour was it?

Grateful for any, and as much, information as possible please, for build project.

Thanks

Mike

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  • 4 weeks later...

I know this probably doesn't help much, but I did find some colour pictures of the Essex class LPH's:

 

10110510.jpg

10110808.jpg

This post war one makes the deck look more brown or unpainted wood:

023733.jpg

Whilst these two after conversion to an LPH definitely have a more grey/blue tinge to the decks:

023736.jpg

023736d.jpg

 

All from here: http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/11/11idx.htm

Edited by Oliver
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Hi Oliver and Mike,

 

I had another on-line chat with John Snyder and he believes that the decks were painted grey postwar  ......"To the best of my recollection, it was the same very dark Flight Deck Gray (Colourcoats M 05) as the rest of the birdfarms.  Cheers,  John"

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On 06/10/2016 at 4:47 PM, bootneck said:

Hi Oliver and Mike,

 

I had another on-line chat with John Snyder and he believes that the decks were painted grey postwar  ......"To the best of my recollection, it was the same very dark Flight Deck Gray (Colourcoats M 05) as the rest of the birdfarms.  Cheers,  John"

 

Well, I yield to no-one in my admiration of John Snyder's encyclopaedic knowledge but...

 

Warren Thompson has a book out (Naval Aviation in the Korean War, Pen & Sword, 2012) which has a goodly collection of colour photos in it (in fact the reason why I bought the book).  Decks feature in many of them.  It is surprisingly difficult to tell what colour they are owing to strong sunlight, angle, shadow, etc.  Some appear to be a dark bluegrey colour while others have a distinct brownish tinge which could even be plain weathered mahogany. I'm wondering whether I am seeing USN Deck Stain at various degrees of weathering.  In any case, it's a pretty nondescript dark bluegrey - chocolate brown colour with the bias either way varying from ship to ship (or maybe from photo to photo).  If you're interested in any particular ship, drop me a PM and I'll see if there are any relevant photos in the book.  I'm sure John's right about Flight Deck Gray coming in, but maybe not in time for Korea (or ships reactivated for Korea)?

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That would sound about right, in that there wouldn't be a rush to repaint all the decks postwar, especially when funds were needed for repatriations and repairs etc.  The blue decks would have been gradually worn back to a dirty wood by constant scrubbing, plus the effects of weather over time.  The grey was probably phased in as and when ships were taken in hand for refit or conversion, say to LPH's or the SC-27 programme.

My particular interest is LPH-4 USS Boxer after her late 1950's conversion.  Any colour details and decent photo's of the island after that time would be really useful.

 

cheers

 

Mike

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2 photos of Boxer during her cruise late Mar 1953 to November 1953.  TBH, she is the most brown of all the photos: a sort of greyish chocolate.  Think you are spot-on with Deck Stain worn away to weathered mahogany by wear and tear, scrubbing, etc.

 

Afraid photos are of aircraft, not the island.

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  • 2 years later...
On 10/8/2016 at 11:41 AM, bootneck said:

That would sound about right, in that there wouldn't be a rush to repaint all the decks postwar, especially when funds were needed for repatriations and repairs etc.  The blue decks would have been gradually worn back to a dirty wood by constant scrubbing, plus the effects of weather over time.  The grey was probably phased in as and when ships were taken in hand for refit or conversion, say to LPH's or the SC-27 programme.

 

As CV-36 Antietam underwent neither SCB-27 nor SCB-125 modifications it's very intriguing for me what was her actual deck colour in the 1953-57 period. The Dragon 1/700 kit manual says "intermediate blue" for the whole deck while the box picture shows some grayish chocolate on the foredeck and almost anthracite gray on the angled landing path. Do you mean that the deck planks were really brought back to their wartime hue after fitting the sponson and angled deck or were they painted in uniform with the Midway class armoured deck shade of gray?

Cheers

Michael

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