I had two USN31 CV-8 Hornet models that I was going to paint up as Enterprise and Hornet in 1942. These would be great candidates to test Tanner's decals on. I also painted up Washington and South Dakota for 1942-43 time frame and have posted some pix of them too.
Tanner has built a website that contains both a storefront and an easy to follow step-by-step tutorial. The only step in his system that requires any skill is cutting out the decal. This step requires close attention to detail to insure that one gets nothing but decal. However, once you have mastered the art of cutting, it's all rather simple from there.
Now I like to weather my ships to make them look like they have been fighting the war at sea and not sitting in port entertaining dignitaries. With Tanner's decals you can either apply them as is and have a fresh from the shipyard look, or weather them with whatever weathering agents you are accustomed to use. I tried both liquid and dry weathering pigments and both worked just fine. The ones pictured below are using dry weathering pigments from Tamiya.
I whole-heartedly recommend Tanner's decals for use on GHQ ships. A perfect combination!

USS Enterprise CV-6 in Ms 11

USS Enterprise

USS Enterprise

USS Hornet CV-8 in Ms 12mod

USS Hornet

USS Hornet

USS Washington BB-56 in a rare Ms 22 for this stage of the war

USS Washington

USS Washington

USS South Dakota BB-57 in Ms 11

USS South Dakota

USS South Dakota
I've already ordered some more of Tanner's awesome decals and plan on saving quite a bit of time on future carriers by not having to painstakingly apply painted on deck markings anymore. Thank you Tanner!
Chris