U.S. Navy Ships in WWII Dazzle Camouflage 1944-1945

Destroyers

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Benson Class

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for DD-421

Design 23D

for DD-421

Design Number Silhouette Ships Wearing Design
for DD-421
Measure 32
Kalk (DD-611)
Drawing

Drawing 32/23D for the Benson class destroyers dated June 26, 1944. The Measure 32 colors were: dull black (BK), ocean gray (5-O) and light gray (5-L) with a pattern of ocean gray and deck blue (20-B) on the horizontal surfaces. Vessels wanting Measure 31 could subsitute haze gray (5-H) for light gray (5-L) on the vertical surfaces.

Design 23D was derived from a Measure 16 pattern dated June 1942. The design drawing for Buckley class destroyer escorts was dated March 8, 1944. Design 23D was drawn for Mahan class destroyers on April 13, 1944, and again for Admirable class minesweepers on May 5, 1944. Also on May 18, 1944, the Design 23D drawing was reissued for the destroyer Cassin, rebuilt after Pearl Harbor, but both starboard and port bow patterns had been extensively modified even though the design number remained the same; there is no evidence whether Cassin used this modified design.

Original drawing source: NARA 80-G-174775 and 80-G-174776.

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