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Photo # 19-N-73630:  Port side drawing of Camouflage Measure 31a Design 6B, for USS Nevada (BB-36).

Online Library of Selected Images:
U.S. NAVY SHIP CAMOUFLAGE -- WORLD WAR II -- Listed by Design Number

Measure 31a, Design 6B

Measure 31a Design 6B was prepared in October 1944 for application to the battleship Nevada (BB-36), which is the only ship known to have been painted in this scheme. This ship wore several other camouflage measures during World War II. She entered the conflict, at Pearl Harbor, in Camouflage Measure 1 with a Measure 5 false bow wave painted on her hull. During the next two years she displayed the overall dark colors of Measures 11 and 21. In mid-1944, while taking part in European invasion operations, Nevada was painted in the horizontal two-tone Measure 22. She was repainted in Design 6B, or something very much like it (the actual patterns applied do not precisely match those shown in the Design 6B drawings) later in 1944, while preparing to return to the Pacific. This was retained through the Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns, after which she reverted to simpler camouflage schemes. Nevada ended her active career painted bright orange-red for target service during the mid-1946 atomic bomb tests at Bikini, in the Marshall Islands.

Design 6B was relatively dark, though lighter overall than typical Measure 31 schemes. Colors used on vertical surfaces included Navy Blue (5-N), Ocean Gray (5-O) and Haze Gray (5-H). Decks and other exterior horizontal surfaces were to be painted Deck Blue (20-B), with the tops of main battery guns featuring relatively small areas of Ocean Gray and Haze Gray. It should be noted that photographs of Nevada are somewhat ambiguous concerning how closely her actual colors conformed to those specified in the Design 6B drawings. For examples of such views, see Photo #s: 80-G-K-3510 (cropped) and NH 104834.

Initials appearing on the drawings presented here indicate that their designer/draftsman was Everett Warner ("EW").

This page provides information and drawings concerning Design 6B of U.S. Navy Camouflage Measure 31a.

For information and images related to Camouflage Measure 31-32-33 designs with other alpha-numeric designators, see:

  • Measures 31-32-33 -- Listed by Design Designator.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."
    CAUTION: camouflage drawing photographs shown on this page have generally had contrast altered to enhance patterns. Contrast in actual photographic reproductions may differ markedly from that seen here.


    Click on the small picture to access the Picture Data Sheet for each image. A larger reproduction of that drawing or photograph can be accessed by clicking the small picture in each Picture Data Sheet.

    Camouflage Identification:

    Starboard Side:

    Port Side:
    Measure 31a, Design 6B, for USS Nevada (BB-36).
    Drawings dated 14 October 1944.

     

     


    For information and images related to Camouflage Measure 31-32-33 designs with other alpha-numeric designators, see:

  • Measures 31-32-33 -- Listed by Design Designator.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."
    CAUTION: camouflage drawing photographs shown on this page have generally had contrast altered to enhance patterns. Contrast in actual photographic reproductions may differ markedly from that seen here.


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    Page made 21 June 2007
    Links revised 25 June 2007