Use of the swastika on German vessels.

[big-gazza]

Hi,
just got me German fleet from NAVWAR and I'm trying to work out how to paint it. I was doing a google search on the Bismarck and found this great pic.

I noticed the red band and swastika and I was wondering if this was standard on all German vessels? Just seems like a good easy way to have the german shipd stand out compared to my Brits (which I will be doing next.)

Thanks for the help

 

[DM]

No, it wasn't standard (although thats no reason for you not to do it). Air recognition markings chaged frequently. The red bar could be dark grey, or there could be no bar at all. Coloured turret tops were often used as well, and these changed on an operation-by-opertaion basis. For example, Bismarck had yellow turret tops when she was sunk (also the black/white stripes wwere painted out), whilst Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen had blue turret tops for Operation Cerberus. Some baltic operations had the ships involved using red turret tops (quite a deep "brick" red)

 

[resQscooter]

I painted them on my Figurehead 1/6000 and it looks great! I am tryng to figure out how to post the pics. Though it seems intuitive, I am having nothing but trouble trying to get it on photobucket and into the forum... Keeps telling me the URL is not valid. Can anyone offer any insight?

 

[Lord David the Denied]

I like how the Bismarck image has the Swasticka symbols skewed. Is that to avoid the Politzei kicking the door in?

 

[Wulf Corbett]

I like how the Bismarck image has the Swasticka symbols skewed. Is that to avoid the Politzei kicking the door in?

Nope, the Bismark was unique in that particular quirk, I think, but it is accurate - as shown by underwater cameras when they found the wreck!

Wulf

 

[Lord David the Denied]

Fair enough, then...

 

[Wulf Corbett]

Interesting drawing though... I hadn't realised the secondary turrets were also painted yellow. And there seems to be more wooden deck and less painted metal than I had thought. And the black/white stripes don't carry on over the superstructure...

Now, should I go repaint my mini?

Wulf

 

[Fanaticus]

I noticed the red band and swastika and I was wondering if this was standard on all German vessels? Just seems like a good easy way to have the german shipd stand out compared to my Brits (which I will be doing next.)

Not standard on all, in some cases they appear in pre-war paint schemes.

Which is not this case of Bismark, as the one shown in the image is the 1941 Baltic camouflage.

Check all of them here:
http://www.bismarck-class.dk/paint_schemes/introduction.html

 

[odski70]

Just getting started painting ships and have jound this site and it solves how I was going to paint my Bismarck too!

Thanks for the link too Fanaticus solves my next problem on how to paint my other ships.

 

[JayRaider]

I painted them on my Figurehead 1/6000 and it looks great! I am tryng to figure out how to post the pics. Though it seems intuitive, I am having nothing but trouble trying to get it on photobucket and into the forum... Keeps telling me the URL is not valid. Can anyone offer any insight?

Copy and paste the IMG to the forum, that works for me

 

[Quel]

No, it wasn't standard (although thats no reason for you not to do it). Air recognition markings chaged frequently. The red bar could be dark grey, or there could be no bar at all. Coloured turret tops were often used as well, and these changed on an operation-by-opertaion basis. For example, Bismarck had yellow turret tops when she was sunk (also the black/white stripes wwere painted out), whilst Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen had blue turret tops for Operation Cerberus. Some baltic operations had the ships involved using red turret tops (quite a deep "brick" red)

Actually, I believe the tops of her turrets were grey when she was sunk. Though the stripes on the sides were definately painted over, same with the swastikas fore and aft.

 

[DM]

They were definitely yellow. One of the survivors testimonies includes reference to painting the turret tops yellow just prior to her last battle.

 

[Quel]

They were definitely yellow. One of the survivors testimonies includes reference to painting the turret tops yellow just prior to her last battle.

That does seem a bit conflicting. This site here http://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck/paint_schemes/paintbism1941rheinubung.html shows Bismarck as having grey tops for Rheinubung. I'm not sure what his reference material was, but the majority of his website seems to be well-researched.

 

[DM]

Whats even more confusing (at least from the perspective of site accuracy) is that, IIRC, there is a reference to the survivors testimony describing the painting of the turret tops on that site.