Book Review – British and Commonwealth Warship Camouflage of WWII: Destroyers, Frigates, Sloops, Escorts, Minesweepers, Submarines, Coastal Forces and Auxiliaries

 [Full Disclosure: I was involved in proof-reading this book, so my opinions might be a little biased.]

This is the first volume covering British and Commonwealth warship camouflage during World War 2 (the second volume is expected to cover battleships and carriers, with cruisers filling up the third volume). This book covers all the different classes of destroyers, frigates, sloops, corvettes, and other escorts, along with submarines, auxiliaries and coastal force craft. There are over 700 color illustrations in the book showing the different camouflage patterns (official and unofficial) used in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific. You can tell that a lot of research went into the book, since many of the camouflage schemes are hard to find in other sources. Additionally, the ship descriptions provide information about weapons and electronics on ships, including changes during the war.

Overall, I think that British and Commonwealth Warship Camouflage of WWII is a great reference book. It provides great information in one volume, so if you want to know what colors to use while painting small ships from the Royal Navy and other Commonwealth navies, then this is the book for you. The descriptions of weapons and radars will also be helpful for modelers, making it a valuable resource.

For gamers, this book is all about how to paint your ships. This might sound limiting, but it really isn't. There is a lot of information in this one book and, if you are a World War 2 naval gamer, it will really help you decide the best way to paint up your fleets.

While it is really interesting to read the descriptions and look at the paint schemes, this book does make me realize that I’m going to have to repaint some of my coastal forces ships. Apparently they used a lot more green and blue colors and less grey than I originally thought. It will mean some extra work for me, but that will make for some more colorful games.