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[tonyH]

Now, now Ned, don't get so insular
Their research budgie is a lot bigger than mine, so give 'em a chance!
 
   Tony

[Netleyned]

You are right Tony their budgie was too much
I spent a lot of time in the seventies at the San Diego
submarine base doing techie bits on the Pacific
firings from our boats.
We were well looked after but the difference between their
facilities and ours was quite embarrassing.

Ned

[gondolier88]

Traditionally larger Victorian boats of higher class, from 40' launches up to 300ft steam yachts, used a green line at the waterline, with red below.


This was for two reasons, green hides a multitude of sins, and when tied alongside in a brackish harbour a green waterline will not show the horrible algal bloom that migrates to the 3-4" above the LWL. This preserved the image of the boat being well maintained and of high class- leaving the white/black above the waterline to stay clean and require only a weekly rinse rather than a daily clean. Don't forget that the Admiralty/Royalty/Captains/Officers/Designers of the day would more than likely have had at least one boat to their name, and fashions and showmanship were of as much importance to them on their war canoes as on their own boats- just a glance at the gilt framed bow windowed captains quarters on Victorian battleships leaves little doubt that the world was to know in no uncertain terms that Britannia ruled the waves, and a mucky waterline would be the waves ruling Britannia somewhat!


Second, at the time nothing on Earth came close to the preserving properties of red lead, as well as it's cheaper costs and anti-fouling properties. Of course copper sheathing could never be attached to iron/steel boats of that era as the sacrificial nature of Zinc had yet to be put to a practical use on boats.


Greg

[tonyH]

Thanks Greg,
 
That ties down a decent reason for the upper cut-off point but below that..............?
 
What I'm trying to find out is the reason why many, non British, capital ships of the late 19th century, had green anti-fouling 'stuff' over the whole of their underwater area; what it was; what kept the colour going for many years with, seemingly, the Italian Navy, the French Navy and some others and why there was a move to red by others.
 
There are rare illustrations of RN ships with the green as well but, as you can imagine, none are exactly contemporary.
 
Captain Gravert, who apparently invented anti-fouling, moved from Germany to Chile and ended up in an area that mined both Copper and Iron so when he sold the patent in 1913 the location may have had a bearing.
 
That said, the document below/above?, courtesy of the USN seems to carry the most weight sofar and the change from Copper to Arsenic could have started the move to red.
 
Since I'm into using the free plans from the French and other nations who offer more than Greenwich, I at least want to try and get usually the largest single painted area on a model approximately right.
 
Out of courtesy if nothing else