Quote:
Originally Posted by Capt Jack Harkness
I've always wondered about that... Does the black work better when running deep? A few other countries have painted their diesel boats shades of blue or green for shallow running.
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It is based on your operating environment. It has to do with operating in shallow waters when performing periscope or recharging evolutions.
As USN boats are going to be primarily open ocean (i.e. blue water navy) they are painted black. Countries that operate primarily in the littoral environment may paint the topside with a color more matching to the seafloor of their operating areas.
Think about looking down from a ships conning tower or a plane. You are trying to limit contrasting with the background to limit visual identification.
Once you go below a certain depth you could paint the hull bright pink and you would not be able to visually see it.