USN CV Flight Deck Markings

cbovill · Post by **cbovill** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:15 am

I've embarked upon the herculean task of building the USN and IJN in WWII. That ought to make GHQ happy and my wife crazy. I'm starting with the Battle of the Coral Sea. So I've got my ships and hords of aircraft, but before I start painting, I have been researching how each ship was painted. I have bought a ton of books and done a ton of research on the internet. Finding out what measures to paint each US ship has been easy, but I still cannot answer the following questions:

1. What deck markings did the USS Lexington CV-2 carry in May of 1942, and what color(s) were they?

2. What deck markings did the USS Yorktown CV-5 carry in May and June of 1942, and what color(s) were they?

3. I'm also building USS Intrepid CV-11 as a special project for a friend whose grandfather served on board her during the campaign in the Marshalls and against Truk in January/February of 1944. I have a book on E s s e x class carriers that shows Intrepid upon completion with no markings on her deck. Did she receive any markings on her flight deck when she was with TF58? If so what were they and what colors were they?

I appreciate any help you can give me.

Thanks,
Chris

BattlerBritain · Post by **BattlerBritain** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 9:59 pm

Have a look under 'Ships' here:
http://cplengineeringllc.com/SFP1/

I know they're downloads for a Flight Sim, but they're pretty accurate.

cbovill · Post by **cbovill** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 5:54 am

Thanks BattlerBritain, I checked out that website and they had a drawing of the Yorktown but it had a big white number 5 shown on the flight deck, which I don't believe was the practice at that time (Coral Sea/Midway). I did manage to find a picture of Yorktown in her final moments that appears to show the ship with no markings at all. However, she could have some lines on her deck that are low visibility per the orders issued that just can't be made out in this poor quality photo. Of course, it is always possible that the wartime censors have doctored this photo to remove the ships identity.

Anyone have any good photo references to these ships?

Thanks,
Chris

Donald M. Scheef · Post by **Donald M. Scheef** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 12:30 pm

I would suggest the USN Photo Archive (not an official government site, but massive files of photographs of USN ships; most with full background information). "http:\\www.navsource.org\index.html"

Don S.

battlewagon · Post by **battlewagon** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 1:14 pm

I will do some digging on this one, but my initial impression is that they may have been sporting measure 1 around the time of Coral Sea. If that is the case the flight deck is probably dark gray with white or light gray lines on the flight deck and no hull number.

I hope this helps.

cbovill · Post by **cbovill** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:28 am

Donald - thanks for the reference, that's actually where I found the above picture.

BattlerBritain - Yorktown was wearing Measure 12 (sea blue up to main deck, then ocean gray) and had a Norfolk stained flight deck, which apparently is some kind of blue/gray stain. It's just surprising that there are so many sources that talk about what paint schemes these carriers wore, but never mention what the flight deck looked like. It's kind of important since it is the most visible aspect of the ship.

I'm starting to get the impression I can paint their flight decks with any markings I please as there is so little evidence of what they looked like.

Chris

ateal · Post by **ateal** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:54 am

I've scanned in copies of my out-of-print SeaBat decals for your reference.

Yorktown Class - decal A for Hornet is white, decal B for Enterprise and Yorktown is yellow. (Later Enterprise would use different white lines and a white Number 6)

Lexington Class - decals are yellow
(Saratoga would later use different white lines and a white 3)

USS Intrepid CV-11 ('44 - '45) - The number 11 is black, the other lines are white.

USS Essx CV-9 (43-45), Yorktown CV-10 (44 only), Intrepid CV-11 (43 only) and Lexington CV-16 (43 only) -- decals are yellow.

Tony

cbovill · Post by **cbovill** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 2:39 am

Tony, I owe you a beer!!, or two, or three,...!!!!

That is exactly the information I have been trying to find. Thanks a million!!!

Chris

8ball · Post by **8ball** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 7:32 pm

Keep in mind that after a few weeks at sea, with salt air, rain, wind, and ongoing take-offs and landings, the deck paint would become worn, faded, and bleached from the sun. So unless you are going to depict a ship that has just had its deck painted, you might want to try for something somewhere between new paint, and 'almost worn off paint', for a ship that looks like it is at war.