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NavSource Online: Battleship Photo Archive

Articles

Size	Image Description	Contributed By And/Or Copyright
577k	Turret top colored markings on cruisers and battleships at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor.. From the time that aircraft were first carried on ships there was a problem for the aviators. How to identify their parent ship from the air? Note the following photo in the inset. Pumping out the California (BB-44) after installation of a cofferdam along her bow's port side, while she was under salvage at Pearl Harbor on 27 February 1942. Note that her turret is trimmed with paint. Aircraft carriers have a distinct appearance, and early USN ships carried identification letters on the flight deck. But catapult launched scout planes still had a problem. By the time aviation scouting and observation squadrons became an integral part of the fleet in the late 1930s a system was devised to help pilots pick out their own ships. It was based upon the colorful squadron livery that also adorned the aircraft at that time. Squadron identification colors were painted on the tops of the forward turrets of the cruisers and battleships that carried scout planes. Individual sections were assigned to specific ships, and a section color was carried on an after turret to provide positive identification. In 1938 the battlehips carried colors on "B" and "Y" turrets, but from 1939 to 1941 this was extended to include "A" turret also. The color codes were in use at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and can be easily seen on several photographs. The bright identification colors were gradually painted out in the early months of 1942. Squadrons assigned to battleships were used primarily for observation to assist gunnery and were designated as Observation Squadrons using the initials "VO" (V for heavier than air aircraft, O for Observation). Cruisers carried the same type of aircraft, but the planes were used for scouting as well as observation. The squadrons assigned to the cruisers were called Scouting squadrons and used the letters "VCS" for identification (CS for cruiser scouting). Each Battleships Division and each cruiser division had its own squadron. In the days prior to World War II the aircraft of all squadrons were painted with distinctive colors. The following colors were in effect prior to the Pearl Harbor attack: Battleship Divisions were assigned VO squadrons with numbers matching the division number. Within each division a section was assigned to each ship, usually in order of seniority as listed below. Section colors were Red, White, Blue, Black, and Green (Yellow was reserved for section 6, but never actually used except for carrier planes). Section colors were painted on the after turret tops. The tails of VO squadron aircraft were painted in solid colors, as were the forward turret tops of the ships. From Oct 1940 until the decision to drop colorful peacetime markings the section leaders also carried the squadron color on the entire engine cowling. The next senior leader carried it on the upper half of the cowling and the third in line carried it on the lower half of the cowling. Note: The order of ships given here may not match the actual order used for section assignments. It follows the best data I have, but there is a possibility that the actual sections were not assigned the way I have listed them - {Aryeh Wetherhorn} BATDIV 1 - Red Arizona (BB-39), Nevada (BB-36) & Pennsylvania (BB-38). BATDIV 2 - White Tennessee (BB-43), Oklahoma (BB-37) & California (BB-44). BATDIV 3 - Blue Idaho (BB-42), Mississippi (BB-41) & Mexico (BB-40). BATDIV 4 - Black West Virginia (BB-48), Colorado (BB-45) & Maryland (BB-46). BATDIV 5 - Yellow Texas (BB-35), New York (BB-34) & Arkansas (BB-33). Cruiser squadrons carried one or two horizontal stripes on their rudders in colors as indicated below. The forward turrets of their parent ships were given stripes to match. A circle in the section color was painted on the top of the after turret. CRUDIV 2 - Two Yellow Stripes Memphis (CL-13), Milwaukee (CL-5), Cincinnati (CL-6), Omaha (CL-4) & Marblehead (CL-12). CRUDIV 3 - Two red stripes Richmond (CL-9) Concord (CL-10) Trenton (CL-11) CRUDIV 4 - One Blue Stripe Pensacola (CA-24), Salt Lake City (CA-25), Chicago (CA-29) & Indianapolis (CA-35). CRUDIV 5 - One Yellow Stripe Northampton (CA-26), Chester (CA-27), Louisville (CA-28) & Portland (CA-33). CRUDIV 6 - One Black Stripe Minneapolis (CA-36), Astoria (CA-34), New Orleans (CA-32) & San Francisco (CA-38). CRUDIV 7 - One Green Stripe Wichita (CA-45), Quincy (CA-39), Tuscaloosa (CA-37) & Vincennes (CA-44). CRUDIV 8 - Two Black Stripes Philadelphia (CL-41), Brooklyn (CL-40), Savannah (CL-42) & Nashville (CL-43). CRUDIV 9 - Two Green Stripes Honolulu (CL-48), Phoenix (CL-46), Boise (CL-47), Helena (CL-50) & St Louis (CL-49). VCS ? - Two Blue Stripes (flotilla leaders - not assigned to a Cruiser division) Raleigh (CL-7) & Detroit (CL-8) VCS ? - One Red Stripe Augusta (CA-31) & Omaha (CL-4) (assigned this color by Pacific Fleet commander Adm Kimmel in Mar 1941 despite the fact that she was in the Atlantic in CRUDIV 2) Aircraft Carriers were given a specific color for the tails of all embarked aircraft. The deck letters and colors used from 1937 on were: Lexington (CV-2) - LEX - Yellow, Saratoga (CV-3) - SARA - White, Ranger (CV-4) - RNGR - Green, Yorktown (CV-5) - YKTN - Red, Enterprise (CV-6) - EN - Blue, Wasp (CV-7) - WASP - Black, Hornet (CV-8) - HNT - no color ever assigned. Carrier squadrons normally were divided into 6 three plane sections. Before the war, each section used the colors mentioned in the battleship VO squadrons in a chevron on the upper wing, and on the engine cowling. Section leaders had the entire cowling in color and also had a colored band around the fuselage,. The number 2 aircraft had the color on the top of the cowl, and number 3 carried it on the bottom of the cowl. This was in addition to the numbers and letters carried on the fuselage. All the bright colored markings on aircraft were being phased out in 1941 in favor of light grey camouflage, but the ship turret top colors remained in use. NAVSOURCE photographs that show turret top markings include: Battleships: *Oklahoma, 013721b,& 013731, Pennsylvania, 013823, Arizona, 013904b, West Virginia, 014805, and 3 pictures in the special Pearl Harbor collection , PH105,& PH202,& PH202. Cruisers: Chester, 0402717. Indianapolis, 0403503. Minneapolis, 0403612. Chicago, 0402910. Quincy, 0403901. Philadelphia, 0404103. Vincennes, 0404402, & 0404403. Wichita, 0404501. Honolulu, 0404803*.	Official U.S. Navy Photograph, USNHC # NH 55034, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Text courtesy of Aryeh Wetherhorn.
1.9m	Fore deck of a battleship. PDF article entitled "Soviet Policy in the Baltic", by Major Henry G. Morgan Jr. This article appeared in the April 1960 edition of U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, pgs 82-89.	Photo & article courtesy of Pieter Bakels. Added 11/26/08.
577k	Convoy off the Cornish Coast. PDF article entitled "Naval Gunfire, Today & Tommorrow", Sept. 1966 by Lt. Col. James B. Soper, USMC.	Photo & article courtesy of USNIP via Pieter Bakels.
1.3m	A ship-sloop of war while on patrol in the English Channel has just come about after sighting a strange sail on the horizon and closes to investigate. PDF article entitled "The Battleship in the U.S. Navy" from the Naval History Division, Navy Department 1970.	Photo courtesy of Pieter Bakels. Article courtesy of Darryl Baker.
387k	Field day aboard an American frigate. PDF article entitled "The Gun Gap and How To Close It".	Photo & article courtesy of Pieter Bakels.
175k	American Brig-of-War airing her sails. PDF article entitled "Options for Naval Surface Fire Support". Article by the Honorable Roscoe G. Bartlett, Chairman Subcommittee on Projection Forces, Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, 19 November 2004.	Photo & article courtesy of Pieter Bakels.