Wetherhorn

You can find a reference to all my Japanese ship camouflage posts at:

https//wetherhorn.wordpress.com/2022/07/12/japanese-ship-camouflage-cross-reference/

At the end of World War 2 The Japanese Navy tried a new approach to Camouflage. America was threatening to invade the home islands and the Japanese tried to preserve what remained of their fleet for use in a last ditch effort to thwart the upcoming invasion. Warships were scattered about the inland sea near the Kure Naval Base and an attempt was made to hide them by making them appear part of the  nearby islands.  After the Japanese surrender an American team documented much of those efforts. Part of the documentation included the following sketches of attempts at concealing ships.

The Americans weren’t really fooled. US aircraft attacked the ships and the results can be seen in the following photographs.

HARUNA view from forward shows painting on turrets

HARUNA sunk at ehr berth

HYUGA sunk, seen from the side showing painting

HYUGA sunk at her berth

ISE sunk, another view

ISE sunk at her berth

ISE view of superstructure showing painting

ISE bow view showing painted turrets

ISE looking aft

photo of KATSURAGI (and AMAGI) under attack

The Japanese efforts included building houses and placing foliage on the decks and masts, and even included some use of  paint. It isn’t easy to see in the photographs but the sides of the hybrid battleship=carrier ISE were painted in patches of grey, brown, and green. HARUNA had her turrets painted in stripes. NAGATO, at a different location, was covered with netting. The deck of the KATSURAGI included houses and painted paths between them. It did not help. The ships were sunk in the shallow waterat their berths.