The February 1998 issue of "ABANDERADO" contained a plea for accurate information on colour schemes of ships which participated in the War. Unless someone in the Spanish Naval Ministry has access to a pre-1936 general order on the subject,or is able to conduct some in-depth research at one of the British yards which helped build ships for Spain a definitive answer continues to elude us!

One of the few sources in the English language is that of the once regular feature in "Model Boats," a very long running series called 'Fighting Fleets in Miniature'. This, very informative illustrated series covered hundreds,if not thousands of men o' war of the 20th century. Article number 35, published in early 1970 dealt with the career of two vessels which participated in the Spanish Civil War; "Jaime I" and "Mendez Nunez".

Michael Ainsworth, the author described each ship effectively and produced a 1/1200 scale waterline plan and drawing for ship modellers to work from. Mike Ainsworth's accuracy is legendary amongst ship modellers and wargamers, so to quote his description of the colour scheme of the vessels at the start of the war might be useful....."light grey with black waterline.Weather and bridgedecks were planked,others dark grey or black" - that's all.

In many of the articles he gives exact Humbrol colour numbers,since Humbrol paints were and still are the best range in the world for ship models. Not in this case however. If 'Fighting Fleets' covered any other ships of the SCW, I'm not aware of it; though its a fair bet that somewhere along the line Mike Ainsworth tackled either the big cruisers such as "Balaeres," or the large destroyer class.

Where painting ship models is concerned. Perhaps one or two further points need to be made for the benefit of those new to this area of wargaming.

1. The fact that an Admiralty decides that all ships will be painted the equivalent of Humbrol Matt No. HX 4 (Sea Grey Medium) doesn't mean it ever happened. Busy smaller vessels rarely docked let alone laid up would be far less likely to obey an order of the Admiralty than a fleet flagship used for more ceremonial purposes.

2. War changes everything! Don't base your ship painting on the false premise that every navy in the world was a smaller version of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Squadron in the 1930's. That was renowned for its spick and span paintwork, but then "HMS Hood" and her consorts were solely used for impressing the locals,and throwing immense parties. Not a shot was fired in anger. So, where the Spanish navies are concerned, after the Pronunciamento keeping the paintwork clean became far less important than winning the war. These were small fleets and constantly at sea, exposed to the elements and subsequently will have lost any pre-war 'polish' after the first Winter.Take a look at photo's of the returning ships from the Falklands Task Force,as a guide to 'weathering' a ship. A warship operating out of El Ferrol, in an Atlantic Winter will suffer far different weathering problems, including rust and storm damage, than a sister based in Ibiza in a Mediterranean Summer! There, blistering and 'whitening', the fading of colour will be the major problem.

3. Where foreign 'purchases' are concerned,and there were remarkably few in the SCW,the original owners paintwork is almost certain to be retained at least in the short or medium term. Soviet, Royal Navy, Italian and Kriegsmarine colours are far better known than Spanish since they continued in use into WWII. Humbrol make suitable paints for each of these fleets.

4. Any auxiliary warship taken up from merchant or fishing fleets will be unlikely to have anything but the most rudimentary paint job before entering service. Once armed she would be almost permanently at sea.

5. The major threat to any warship in the SCW was not surface action, but air attack. Identification to friendly aircraft would be most important,exactly the same concept as the painting of the St. Andrew's cross on the turret tops of captured T26 tanks. The major maritime powers did the same thing of course, 'B' turret being red, white and blue on Royal naval ships, etc.

6. Forget camouflage. Deception and ruse, yes. A Republican "Churruca" class destroyer flying a Nationalist ensign or posing as a British destroyer, of which they were almost exact sisters would be a common ocurrence.Identification of the ex-RN trawlers used by the Republic, Nationalists and Basques must have been a real problem!

A final plug for Humbrol.In their paint range you'll find everything you need including rust! When I just glanced at my paints box, I counted 18 different shades of light, medium and dark grey, and three spray cans of medium "sea" grey useful for undercoating. A few years back, painting a small Spanish squadron for a WWI raider scenario, I opted for HB6 a lightish sea grey. Using the old wargamers rule of thumb, they 'looked right' and since they fought well, that's how they stayed.

Related:

The Basque Fleet in the Spanish Civil War
Ship Colours of the Major Powers

Wargaming Naval Actions in 1/3000th Scale: Part 1
Wargaming Naval Actions in 1/3000th Scale: Part 2
Wargaming Naval Actions in 1/3000th Scale: Part 3