I know I asked this question several months ago but cannot recall whether there was a concensus: What camoflage sceme was the U.S. Navy using at the time of Pearl Harbor? I have seen both Measure 1 (Dark Grey on all surfaces with Light Grey above the Funnel tops) and Measure 21 (Navy Blue on vertical surfaces and deck blue on horizontal) mentioned. And more specifically, which scheme would the destroyer U.S.S. Ward be wearing. I have a color plate of the Ward in Measure 21 dated in February of 1941 at her recommissioning, but I think I recall reading somewhere that most, if not all, of the Navy’s ship had been converted to Measure 1 by December, 1941.
Through the end of 1941 the measures actively in use were 1, 1A, 1B, 1C, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12R (replacing 5-S with 5-N), 12mod (splotch and dapple, could be 5-S or 5-N for the blue), 13, 14 and 15 (note only a few ships were ever painted in Ms15 and King hated it so it went away very quickly). I have photos of every scheme I just listed except measures 4 and 15 that all predate and run up to at least the Pearl Harbor attack.
There is still a huge debate on what the battle line wore at Pearl, B&W photos are mostly useless to determine colors. Some color films show what looks like blue schemes but some documents say otherwise, some documents allude to pre-Pearl changes while others are definite on changes done. Personally I know what I’ve seen in color but without having the time or money to have entire reels of film copied to DVD with a digital beta intermediary I’m not making statements.
For the USS Ward the best guy to ask right now is Tracy White. You can find him on www.shipcamouflage.com, post and he’ll answer.
The Measure 21 to which you refer was not put forth until the June 1942 Supplement to SHIPS-2 - the Navy’s painting instructions. Measure 21 did not exist in December 1941. This is not to say that ships were not painted in overall blue in 1941
Measure 11 was established in September 1941 SHIPS-2. Measure 11 called for overall Sea Blue (5-S). Sea Blue had bad chalking characteristics and proved to be an unacceptable paint for naval purposes.
Some of the various experimental versions of Measure 1 (A, B and C) called for blue paints. Measure 1C ultimately became Measure 11. See the correspondence documentation regarding color experiments carried out at Pearl Harbor using destroyers at shipcamouflage.com
http://www.shipcamouflage.com/pearl_harbor_experiments.htm
While the WARD was not specifically mentioned in the correspondence regarding these experiments you can see that various colors of blue were used.
Gentlemen, thanks very much for the info. While I’m not sure exactly how I will finih this kit at least I am pointed in the right direction. I believe the plate that I have indicating Ms 21 is mislabeled and should read Ms 11 because the colors they describe are the Ms 11 colors.
if you go to this section of the same website it lists what the Ward was wearing in 1941, not specific on what period but it lists scheme MS1 and MS11 both for that year.
Tom, I’ve seen that chart and unfortunately it doesn’t give dates. I’ve also been told that the change to Ms 11 for the Ward did not occur until early 1942.