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

Destroyer Escorts

View by Design Number

Buckley

View by Design Number

for DE-51

Design 16D

for DE-51

Design Number Silhouette Ships Wearing Design
for DE-51
Measure 31
Engstrom (DE-50)Eichenberger (DE-202)
Hemminger (DE-746)

Measure 32
Brennan (DE-13)Thomason (DE-203)
England (DE-635)Bowers (DE-637)
George (DE-697)Bright (DE-747)
Drawing

Design 16D for the Buckley class destroyer escorts in open colors probably drawn up in late 1943 or early 1944. The stern view was x’ed out, probably because the 5-O should wrap around the stern, and the bow view was erased from the starboard side drawing. The medium vertical color should be ocean gray (5-O) for Measures 31 and 32; the lightest color would be haze gray (5-H) for Measure 31 or light gray (5-L) for Measure 32. Labels for the specified colors were probably added to the copy before it was sent to an individual ship.

A Design 16D drawing was attached to the July 15, 1943, memo to PacFleet for the Farragut class destroyers. Some parts of Design 16D were derived from an earlier pattern used for Measure 16. Design 16D was also drawn up for the Fletcher, Allen M. Sumner and Gleaves classes of destroyers, Bayfield class attack transports and for Tacoma class frigates. The cruiser USS Baltimore (CA-68) wore 16D using navy blue as the darkest color and the battleship USS California (BB-44) wore Design 16D in Measure 32 colors. The design drawing for the Allen M. Sumner class is somewhat different on the port bow from the area under the bridge forward.

Original drawing sources: NARA 80-G-162036 and 80-G-162037.

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