Missed a spot?

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Pieter C
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Missed a spot?

Post by Pieter C »

Hi,

Last week I came across a photo of Bismarck leaving Grimstad Fjord. I noticed a dark strip running down under the starboard anchor. Found same stripe on a few more photos (on is on this site) of Bismarck and the stripe at the start her last sortie. Unfortunately, the photos of Bismarck on the open see her bow is either in the waves or is to far away to see clearly.

Wondering if the stripe is because they stopped painting due to time constraint, ran out of paint or if they ran out of the same shade of paint as the rest of the hull?

Pieter
Bisbow1.jpg
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Bisbow2.jpg
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wadinga
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Re: Missed a spot?

Post by wadinga »

Hello Pieter C,

You bring up an interesting matter :D

Also noticeable is that the painted false bow profile above the false bow wave is present, suggesting the slightly darker grey of the bow relative to the rest of the hull was maintained. There was only limited time available for this cosmetic paint job and the main effort was surely to remove the distinctive striping. This rendition http://www.kbismarck.com/bism41.gif on this site suggests the repainting only toned down the stripes in the time available but does not represent the bow forward of the "wave" retaining its slightly darker colour.

Assuming the photo definitely shows the ship after hauling up her anchor, my speculation would be that it is to do with the very act of anchoring. If the starboard anchor was used, the chain would have been in the way of deploying a hanging painting stage from the deck above (if this area was repainted at all). More likely I suspect it is a trick of the light in that the chain and anchor would be hosed down as they were brought up from the seabed. Mud and weed etc were washed off the ground tackle as it was brought aboard and it may be that hull wetness, plus any seabed residue, splashed against the hull gave this temporary appearance.

All the best

wadinga
"There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today!"
Pieter C
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Re: Missed a spot?

Post by Pieter C »

Hi Wadinga,

The second snippet is from this site's photo gallery of when she left on her sortie. On the Facebook page of diedeutscheskriegsmarine there is another photo showing the stripe clearly. It looks like they have finished painting and are busy packing up and cleaning. (I think he has just over 50 pics on his Facebook.) I have a photo (can't remember where I got it) of full on of Bismarck's bow and it shows they have been using the port anchor and the stripe on the starboard side. Also show the difference in the bow waves nicely. Port is slightly bigger and more of a straight line down from the back of the top curl. Like you say it could be that for some reason they had use water starboard side while the paint was wet.

Understandable that some of the darker stripping will show faintly as you need more than one coat of paint to cover a dark colour completely. Google search is most of the time backwards and give you what it thinks you want but don't want. So you get a lot of sites and pictures of the other German navy ships. And on a lot of them, there is always some one somewhere in the picture with at least a paint brush in hand.
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wadinga
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Re: Missed a spot?

Post by wadinga »

Hi Pieter C,

That Facebook site has some excellent photos including the head on shot with the port anchor down, it could be water has drained across the deck and down the starboard hawsepipe. The blobs on deck could be be two crewmen with a hose whilst the rest of the party are clustered round the capstan whilst the anchor is brought up. The ship would be going dead slow ahead as the chain was lifted from the seabed so little or no bow wave. Still mystified though :think:

German ships had big crews and a lot of time in harbour, so there were always a lot of people needing to kept "busy" and available to paint things.

One of the great frustrations is that there are so many photos "locked up" in private collections which could be contributing valuable information. This Forum and website is a fabulous resource.

All the best

wadinga
"There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today!"
paul.mercer
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Re: Missed a spot?

Post by paul.mercer »

wadinga wrote: Tue Nov 17, 2020 6:21 pm Hi Pieter C,

That Facebook site has some excellent photos including the head on shot with the port anchor down, it could be water has drained across the deck and down the starboard hawsepipe. The blobs on deck could be be two crewmen with a hose whilst the rest of the party are clustered round the capstan whilst the anchor is brought up. The ship would be going dead slow ahead as the chain was lifted from the seabed so little or no bow wave. Still mystified though :think:

German ships had big crews and a lot of time in harbour, so there were always a lot of people needing to kept "busy" and available to paint things.

One of the great frustrations is that there are so many photos "locked up" in private collections which could be contributing valuable information. This Forum and website is a fabulous resource.

All the best

wadinga
Hi Wadinga,
Wasn't the old saying in the forces "if it moves salute it if it doesn't, paint it!"
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wadinga
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Re: Missed a spot?

Post by wadinga »

Hello Paul,

Yes, but to avoid too many layers you might want to work it over with a chipping hammer first.......

There wasn't very long in harbour for this paint job and it wouldn't be surprising if it abraded fairly quickly at sea.

All the best

wadinga
"There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today!"
Pieter C
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Re: Missed a spot?

Post by Pieter C »

Paul, when I had to do national service, if it looked like a rock it was painted white. Al the camps, even on the border, had all the paths in the camp lined with white painted rocks.

Wadinga of all the Bismarck models (1:200 and up to 1:72) I have seen over the last 10 or so years on the internet, not one of the rivet counters doing the last few day of Bismarck has the stripe it in their paint work. But I suspect that is because those photo's only recently appeared on the internet. I came across only one that tried the black spot near the starboard stern. And also some with very good rendition of the Baltic camo been painted over.
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Herr Nilsson
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Re: Missed a spot?

Post by Herr Nilsson »

Regards

Marc

"Thank God we blow up and sink more easily." (unknown officer from HMS Norfolk)
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