Paint
"Haze gray and underway" is a common saying in the fleet Navy community. A ships camouflage concealment ability is enhanced and the probability of detection and targeting is reduced by the use of an overall haze gray appearance. For ship color schemes, this reduces the average contrast of the ship to the horizon through the elimination of black and white on vertical or near vertical surfaces above the upper boottopping limit.
- Letters/hull numbers – replace white with light gray and black with ocean gray silicone alkyd enamel.
- Ships name/draft marks -- replace white with light gray and black with ocean gray silicone alkyd enamel,
- Stacks - the inner surface of the stack shall be painted with two coats of heat resistant over bare metal. Exterior surfaces of stacks, bliss caps and diesel uptakes shall be painted with high temp haze gray paint.
- PCM tiles & adjacent areas of superstructure - PCM tiles shall be painted with haze gray water based acrylic latex paint. Vertical topside areas of superstructure to be preserved with haze gray topcoat silicone alkyd enamel.
- Ship & boat canopies - ship canopies stowed in a vertical or near vertical position shall be painted haze gray vinyl over canvas. Replacement canopies should be specified in haze gray, boat canopies shall be painted on the outside with haze gray canvas preservative, and the undersides should not be painted.
The boottopping is defined as the black area from minimum load
waterline at which the ship is expected to operate to 12 inches above the
maximum load waterline. The black paint is an anti-fouling paint
conforming. Haze gray shall be carried to the black
anti-fouling paint which marks the upper boottop paint.
Antifouling paints are required first and foremost to protect the boat bottom from attachment of fouling organisms present in marine and freshwater, such as barnacles, encrusting bryozoa, and zebra mussels, as well as vegetable fouling such as algae and sea-grass. Most antifouling paints contain copper compounds as the active ingredient in preventing fouling attachment. The difference between most antifouling paints is not the active ingredient, or toxicant, but the method in which the active ingredient is delivered.
Leaching antifoulings function by the slow dissolution of water soluble portions of the paint film, releasing (leaching) the cuprous oxide into the water. Ablative antifoulings also function by leaching the toxicant into the water. But ablative antifoulings also function by the controlled erosion, or ablation, of the paint film, which results in a
continuously renewed surface, with fresh toxicant always available for the prevention of fouling attachment.
Sources and Resources
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/weaps/paint.htm
Maintained by Robert Sherman
Originally created by John Pike
Updated Friday, January 01, 1999 11:55:26 AM