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November 9, 2005

Pretty In Pink: Mountbatten Pink

Camouflage has been in fashion for quite some time, but when I see something like pink and purple camo, I have to laugh. But you know what? The other day I ran across a bit of history that legitimized what I thought was just silly fad coloring, not that I think the people at Hot Topic know this...

Admiral of the Fleet The Right Honourable Sir Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, was an admiral in the British Royal Navy. In the autumn of 1940, at the height of the War of the Atlantic, Mountbatten was escorting an Allied convoy and noted that one vessel consistently vanished from view much earlier than the rest. The Union Castle liner's hull was painted a pinkish-purple and the admiral became so convinced that the color was special that he had all the destroyers painted the color.

The color was called Mountbatten Pink and it was actually pretty effective camouflage during the dawn and dusk, when it blended into the purple haze along the horizon. So why are battleships primarily grey today?

By the end of 1942, however, all vessels of destroyer size and larger had dispensed with Mountbatten Pink, although it is believed that smaller vessels retained this colour until well into 1944. The main problem with Mountbatten pink is it stood out at sunrise and sunset, when the traditional battleship grey was much harder to see

More At: Wikipedia: Mountbatten Pink

Posted by sorsha at November 9, 2005 8:10 PM