color of submarine

[jack33]

why is the color of submarines below the water line, red

[MR. Wood]

Anti Corrosion paint they used many colors over the years red was cheeper

[ETR3(SS)]

Not just below the water line, but below the drip line. Half the hull is black to make it harder to see from the surface while the other half was a special paint designed to preserve the hull and prevent the growth of marine life.

[jack33]

Thank´s

[Capt Jack Harkness]

Originally Posted by ETR3(SS)

Not just below the water line, but below the drip line. Half the hull is black to make it harder to see from the surface while the other half was a special paint designed to preserve the hull and prevent the growth of marine life.

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.

[Bubblehead Nuke]

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.

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.

[The Bandit]

Similar things were done in WW2 if you look at the later war grey paint schemes designed to be harder to spot on the surface and at shallow depth. Similar steps were taken with the early SSBNs which deployed to the Med on a regular basis.

[Spartaner251]

Originally Posted by Bubblehead Nuke

Once you go below a certain depth you could paint the hull bright pink and you would not be able to visually see it.

not just depth, it has more to do with light, pink works better at night then black itself, iirc it had to do with the wavelength and color of the pink pigments ect ?
it was tested and dropped in ww2 because no sailor wanted to go around in a pink ship...