When I was in the Navy I worked on HMAS Fremantle when she was in dry dock for repairs, she’d been given a new trail paint job as part of a navy study into new colours that would aid in both confusing enemy radar signatures and also make them harder to see in a distance by enemy eyes.
I saw her in the Blue trial scheme but there were other colours tested, ranging from greay to greens and blues even pinks were tested and spots as well. I remember being on guard duty one weekend down at west head gunnery range and they had all the trial schemes on a huge board there testing exposure to the sun and salt air.
Here are some pics of Freo with the Blues 😉
you can’t really see it in these pics, but she was really really blue!
By: Ja Worsley - 2nd September 2005 at 02:56
Uni: mate I forgot all about Whyalla and as for those new lumps of tin (re: the Armidale Class), they need to be reflective- so that everyone can target them and sink them so that we get new PB’s that are actually fit to do the duty, not bleeding throw backs from Hollywoods Miami Vice show.
By: Unicorn - 1st September 2005 at 14:19
Fremantle class colours
Whyalla trialled a colour scheme that was much closer to USN grey than the RAN’s Storm Grey during the same period that Fremantle was running around in blue.
The first of the new Armidale class are sporting a new colour, which has a much reduced reflectivity compared to Storm Grey.
Superficially it looks almost like Storm Grey, but is a much more “matte”-like paint which does not shine as much nor reflect as much lightfrom external sources (such as the moon or light amplification systems)
As for operating one, the fuel bill would eat up any profits that you might make from ferrying passengers, especially given the costs of fuel today. One reason why you rarely see the Australian National Maritime Museum’s old Attack class boat out on Sydney Harbour these days.
Unicorn
By: Ja Worsley - 30th August 2005 at 16:42
Not sure mate, I’ll find out, I always thought about buying one and using it as a sort of mini liner service running up and down the coast for tourists and holiday makers. Anyone interested in a business proposal?
By: Canpark - 30th August 2005 at 15:45
The Fremantle looks wierd in blue…it looks like a plastic model. Anyway Ja, how much does one of those boats cost? always wanted to know.
By: Ja Worsley - 30th August 2005 at 03:45
Well as a result of the experiment all fleet units changed from Sea Grey (which had a high content of green in it), to Storm Grey which is like a light slate grey. Fremantle has gone back to fleet colours now but it was interesting to see it.
By: Forestin - 29th August 2005 at 21:00
The blue is actualy much more efective then the grey becouse it camos with the blue sky, blue water & the gray dust when clouds are up. Same for a light green.
The Pink one I think has something to do that becouse of the blod in the human eyes, human tend to eliminate the red in there view or something like that. I know the Brits tested the pink on a sub in the 80s or 90s as well (no, not the pink sub moveie from the US ;))
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August 29, 2005 at 5:16 pm