The Camouflage of Ships at Sea (Royal Navy 1943)

For those who enjoy building warships in scale, you are no-doubt familiar with the work of John Snyder of Snyder & Short, who produce authentic color chip sets for naval subjects from around the world. You also know that John is now the token Yank at White Ensign Models.

John is at it again, this time he's acquired an original copy of C.B. 3098, 'The Camouflage of Ships at Sea' originally published by the Training and Staff Duties Division, Naval Staff, Admiralty, May, 1943. This is THE blueprint for camouflage schemes worm by Royal Navy combatant and support vessels during World War II.

The first 40 pages of this title document the theory and application of naval camouflage from a variety of visual aspect angles of any given ship class as well as from the ambient color conditions of different areas of operation. There's some great information in here for the camouflage theorist and modeler alike. There is also a set of color chips which really put the colors accurately into perspective. The remaining pages are color reprints of the camouflage diagrams outlining colors and placement for each ship class and theater of operation.

The title is published in color on single-sided pages that are easy to read. According to the online specifications, this title provides 136 diagrams, eight of which are shown above.

This reference is highly recommended!

My sincere thanks to White Ensign Models for this review sample!