ItalyItaly used very dark blue grey in the early period, but went to pale grey later. In some cases ships in northern Italian waters, were painted dark grey during winter and pale grey during summer. The turret tops were painted in dark grey in all schemes. Many upper deck horizontal surfaces were painted dark grey. Black was commonly used around the funnels and areas where coal was loaded. The shade of pale grey was so pale as to appear almost white in some photographs. Decks were smartly cleaned and appear very pale as with British and German ships that had been holystoned.
Torpedo boats were black, but later went to pale grey or mid grey. Some destroyers adopted a camouflage scheme of blue grey and pale grey, of very similar form to that used by Italy in WW2. Recognition of individual units was achieved through a two-letter combination. AO for example being a shortening of ‘Ardito’. These letters were often in RED, but occasionally in black.
Just click on th pictures to enlage them . The ships ar e almost done
If any one has any other ideas please post a comment .
