http://starbulletin.com/2006/12/07/news/story04.html

At a news conference today, historians at Pearl Harbor revealed the discovery of orders from Adm. Kimmel regarding the proper paint scheme for ships of the 14th Naval District. All ships were to be painted in a shade of Sea Blue Known as Mediterranean Blue on all vertical and metal surfaces. Portions above the stack were medium grey. The only exception was teak decks, and some ships were experimenting with deck stains when the Dec. 7, 1941, attack occurred.

Even more interesting, identification colors were assigned to the various divisions, both ship and aviation. The forward turret tops were painted in the color of the ship division; the aftmost turret was painted in the color of the aviation division. In the case of the USS Arizona, both turret tops were bright red.

Battleship Division #1 was Red, #2 was White, #3 was Blue, #4 was Black and #5 was Yellow. Aviation division colors: #1 was Red, #2 was White, #3 was Blue, #4 was Black, #5 was Green and #6 was Yellow.
Cruisers had a similar scheme, except that the turret tops were painted in an array of stripes.

Attached is a quick drawing showing the USS Arizona's "new" markings on Dec. 7 1941.

Looks rather like a Matchbox kit!

BB

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