Ciao all,
many thanks for the very nice compliments as usual.
@ Jose’,
your comments and evaluations are very logic and absolutely in line with my ones when studying the Prinz Eugen camouflages years ago I realized exactly what you are saying.
YES, we can assess with very high confidence level that the top turret colour was the YELLOW RAL 1003 as ‘’Fliegersichtzeichen ‘’ ( Luftwaffe-KM air identification agreed colour ) for Op. Rheinubung on May 1941, for both Prinz Eugen and Bismarck.
@ Olaf,
your observations are always very accurate, the ‘’ Persenningfarbe ‘’ infos very good too.
Now you can see and evaluate what I was telling you, that Kpt Lindemann and Kpt Brinkmann did execute differently Adm Lutjens staff orders about ‘’ Air Identification ‘’ colour marking of their 2 ships.
This is a very common fact on KM warships, just think about the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the twins were always different on their colour painting details too.
As you can realize, Prinz Eugen did not paint the main gun barrels and kept dark grey main turret sides.
Bismarck did not cover the tops in Gdynia while Prinz Eugen did it, so a very different approach on executing the orders given.
@ Marc,
your double check and control you know means a lot to me, as you are always very acute on your observations and often you drive me to make a better overall work.
I know my Italian writing style in English is difficult for you to read…sorry for that ..
Let me try to explain a bit better.
While approaching Bergen, into KorsFjord they started painting OFF the ‘’Fliegersichtzeichen ‘’ ( Luftwaffe-KM air identification agreed colour ) but they did know the day after they needed it back while sailing away from Norway but still under the Luftwaffe air coverage range, just up until the 13.07 of 22 May 1941 when Admiral Lutjens ( Fleet means order from him on PG KTB ) ordered both ships to paint over the air recognition markings ( both swastikas and top turrets colour).
This drove Kpt Lindemann staff to take this decision for Bismarck : paint over main gun barrels and main turret tops with dark grey paint ( probably they did not have such big tarpaulin-canvas covers with them as we saw used on Tirpitz later on during 1942 ) and only cover the top of the 150 mm turrets and probably the swastikas so they can be re-utilized immediately as needed after.
Paint the top flat surfaces of the main turrets as I showed with Tirpitz photo above takes only few minutes and can be done while at sea, so it is the best solution overall compared to big canvas covers for a short stop.
The main gun barrels was not a problem, it is just a perfection detail often not done at all and in fact Kpt Brinkmann on Prinz Eugen did not do it and was just sailing with his C and D turret barrels at maximum elevation,….. a very funny solution as you can see.
But Bismarck had very big squared main turret top surfaces compared to Prinz Eugen , so the ME 110 escorting pilots can see her very well.
I agree about the paint dry out time, but that is what they did, paint the top turrets while at sea, just like Tirpitz did many times as you can see on photos, just like a Tirpitz survivor from Anton turret doing that told me last year.
I know the Z10 Hans Lody taken photo of Bismarck stern, maybe it is good to post it here in as well.
But Z10 Hans Lody during the sailing from Gdynia till Bergen was FdZ ( Fuhrer der Zerstorer ) so it was leading the ships formation, cannot have taken a photo of Bismarck from back while sailing.
Bismarck is not sailing in fact, and with very high possibility they are doing a refuelling of the Z10 from Bismarck, as the Z 10 sailors presence on the destroyer bow confirms.
If this is the case as I assume, than they were already into KorsFjord or GrimstadFjord and the main gun barrels were already painted dark, so it is correct for timing and what it shows.
Z10 Hans Lody after refuelling sailed to Kalvanes bay in order to form an anti-torpedo screen for Prinz Eugen.
Other ships did this for Bismarck into Grimstad Fjord.
Some other photos taken from airplanes in Norway and into Gotenhafen shows the YELLOW main gun barrels clearly visible.
The aerial photographs of Bismarck on her way to Norway during Operation "Rheinübung", taken by radio operator Guntram Weigl, flying in a Messerschmitt Bf 110, still shows Bruno turret YELLOW main gun barrels when Bismarck is sailing, while the top flat surfaces have been already painted dark.
At the end of the photo sequence taken by Weigl, they show the main gun barrels being painted dark when Bismarck is anchored, just like the photo taken by Prinz Eugen into Grimstad Fjord confirms.
Those evidences confirms the painting process going on while at sea into Norwegian fjord waters.
The 150 mm secondary turret covered tops confirms the colour reached GrimstadFjord and it was needed after.
Admiral Lutjens order at sea on May 22nd, provide us the exact moment when the air recognition colour was painted OFF on Prinz Eugen and Bismarck.
Matrose Maus provided us a clear witness report of the exact moment when the air recognition colour was requested to be painted ON again, approaching France on May 26th, but we know how it went and only the main turrets were painted, NOT the secondary turrets.
The ship wreck in fact does show secondary turrets being dark grey, confirming both Adm Lutjens order of May 22nd being executed while at sea, as well as Matrose Maus witness report.
You are right, on the brownish photo I attached the difference does not result as evident as into the other photo, but it is there both on B and C turrets.
This is only a metter of photo quality available at the moment, but they do exist as well as other photos from private collections, and one day hopefully everybody will see everything.
Hope it is now all clear,.... those photos really talk,......
Ciao Antonio
In order to honor a soldier, we have to tell the truth about what happened over there. The whole, hard, cold truth. And until we do that, we dishonor her and every soldier who died, who gave their life for their country. ( Courage Under Fire )
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