Why Is the Ship Painted Red? Wasn't It Black?

In this episode we're talking about how the paint colors on the hull.
For more on the paint colors:
• How Do You Paint Under...
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The views and opinions expressed in this video are those of the content creator only and may not reflect the views and opinions of the Battleship New Jersey Museum & Memorial, the Home Port Alliance for the USS New Jersey, Inc., its staff, crew, or others. The research presented herein represents the most up-to-date scholarship available to us at the time of filming, but our understanding of the past is constantly evolving. This video is made for entertainment purposes only.

[@jetjock60]

"Submarines have a notorious lack of windows". LOVE IT! Strong!

[@michaelsommers2356]

Screen doors, on the other hand, are quite common.

[@toddmetzger]

Russian subs have windows, but only in use when surfaced.

[@jetjock60]

@@michaelsommers2356 🤣👍

[@Geek-A-Hertz8707]

us subs have 2 windows one for each scope. they also have "head" lights... in case you didn't get that, the bathroom is called a head

[@jetjock60]

Wait gentlemen, it just hit me. We are forgetting the U.S.O.S. Seaview! 😱

[@DeviantOllam]

I really like that you chose red for that bottom coating. It just looks so classic. 👍🖌️

[@Lando_P1]

Will you pentest the battleship?

[@cbremer83]

@@Lando_P1 I expect a defcon presentation on it.

[@DeviantOllam]

@@Lando_P1 if i were going to, i probably shouldn't say so publicly here, haha =)

[@casey6556]

Now this is a delightful crossover I did not expect 👋 Fancy seeing you here!

[@juddylallemand2340]

​@casey6556 totally unexpected!

[@bobbenson6825]

"Submarines have a notorious lack of windows." That's some Drachinifel-level scripting there, he'd approve. Very informative as per your usual!

[@Aiwendill]

well, Drachinifel visited USS New Jersey several times, so Ryan got a contagion of his drachisms from him...

[@mrkeiths48]

That red paint looks traditional and bad ass.

[@robe4314]

This is the most important reason :)

[@VindicatorFSX]

The Red is awesome. Love it.

[@dvone4124]

Plus the ship now matches Ryan's collection of the scale models.

[@michaelfrank2266]

The real reason. LUL

[@kennethward9530]

We noticed Ryan also removed the mast-he says it was to clear the bridge it had to pass under, I think it was to make it match his model that got knocked over and lost its mast.

[@rwdavidoff]

Look, if you want to make your model accurate, you have two options: change the model, or change the ship. Which one is easier when you're the curator?

[@JoshuaC923]

What a flex😂

[@phillyphakename1255]

​@@rwdavidoffChanging the ship happens on the company's dime. Changing the model comes out of your own pocket. I know which one I'd choose...

[@charlescdt6509]

"Red bottom girls they make the Navy world go round". She looks awesome guys.

[@Portuguese-linguica]

Get on your hulls and ride .

[@chi7891]

The reason it’s red is because Ryan specifically chose the one that would be most historically accurate because Ryan is a history nerd. ❤

[@michaelholt8590]

Well, that is how you become a museum curator.

[@leftyo9589]

red is the correct paint, and as a bonus it makes it easier to see any growth if and when you have divers in the future.

[@msticks3672]

Red is classic. Good job choosing red.

[@mlehky]

Because the Navy does not float in an ocean of water, but floats in an ocean of tradition.

[@xephael3485]

🤣😂

[@tobingallawa3322]

That is why they have the wool,Cracker Jack uniforms with 13 buttons and the dixie cup hat. Actually one of those things can keep you afloat, if youcan believe it

[@DavidAllanx]

4:28 "So if any submarines get within 6 inches of the ship, they might see us." - Ryan Szimanski

[@jtharp]

🤣🤣 So good

[@AirJoe]

The red is beautiful. The painters did a great job! ❤

[@Mariner311]

I remember this lesson from the 1980s - my little brother was a LT(jg) and I was an AW3 - he had a 45 foot sailboat as his home and we pulled the boat out to do the bottom - he was the Asst. Deck Div O and just happened to "find" two 5 gallon buckets of Navy Anti-Fouling Red Paint . Was FUN watching a crew of 2 Ensigns and another LT(jg) scraping her and painting her. I can neither confirm nor deny that a Navy crew also pulled his diesel and took it to the ship for servicing at one point - but the "payment" BBQ was impressive.

[@henrycarlson7514]

Comshaw at it's finest

[@josephkolb2248]

She's going to be beautiful. Having her in her war paint is the proper way to show her the way she is respected for

[@daleeladakus1966]

Red was a great choice!! Worthy of a full rabbit hole display in a museum historical ship!! The display could have the details of the different options or choices that traditionally dictated why red or green. Again, I vote for red!! Thanks Ryan!!

[@KevinT3141]

I love that the system of coatings you chose also allowed you to keep up the tradition. Thanks Ryan and the whole BNJ team!

[@subman721]

4:01 I’m gonna have to stop you right there sir! Periscopes are commonly used to view underwater as well. While onboard my boat USS Asheville (SSN-758) we were playing hide and seek with USS Columbus (SSN-762) off Pearl Harbor, during a weekly exercise. Let’s just say we looked up Columbus’s Skirt with our brand new (at the time) Para-Vis ( Full Color Para-View) they had no idea we were even there. I was kinda cool watching her Screw before we made the kill.😉🤣😂

[@BrianHoff04]

Great story. Very few crew seem to describe that kind of detail. I can't imagine what the Admirals thought of that result & what plans to avoid that they came up with. Neat to know.

[@thehayguy]

In all fairness you weren't tracking Columbus in the Delaware's 6 inches of visibility 😂

[@mahbriggs]

The copper plating on wooden ships also protected against ship worms, also known as teredo worms!

[@martinmarheinecke7677]

The original purpose of the copper plates was to protect against shipworms. The good anti-fouling effect alone would not have justified this expensive measure; there were already a number of cheap, toxic paints, such as white lead, that inhibited growth. The fact that ships with copper-plated underwater hulls sailed faster thanks to their smooth surface was a welcome side effect.

[@erikwellerweller8623]

It looks just right, good choices as always. What I like most about these videos is hearing your decision making.

[@fw1421]

The red looks good to me,plus it’s traditional. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@klepper00]

I think it was a great choice . I was pleasantly surprised, I thought it was gonna be black again . Can't wait to see it in a few weeks .

[@donsimon4419]

I particularly like the fact that you painted the ship in authentic colors. Given that she is likely at a very light ship condition, it may be possible to see the red underwater hull. In any event, nice battleship you've got there, Mr. Szimanski! On another subject, it was interesting to see the inboard five bladed screw in a position with one blade pointed straight down. On NJ it makes no difference as the entire propeller disc is above the baseline. On some ships, such as destroyers, the propeller disc extends below the baseline. We had docking positions for the screws to ensure one blade pointed straight up so as to maximize clearance at the bottom of the propeller disc.

[@phillyphakename1255]

On another video, they said the paint would be at the expected water line, given the weight and the density of the freshwater river. Probably would have been higher in wartime, but she's getting old, and needed to carry less weight, so allowances must be made to the historic accuracy.

[@DanielsPolitics1]

This is a very good point. So good that they addressed it in a video on the evening of 6 May New Jersey local time. For people seeing this much later, that video came out after OPs comment, by 3 or 4 days.

[@oldcorps8052]

I love your explanations and US Navy traditions. Thanks for all your videos. These BBs are the most beautiful and formidable ships.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

early anti fouling coatings had a tin agent in them that made the paint red

[@politicsuncensored5617]

A scene in the movie Operation Petticoat 1959 applies to the painting of the NJ today. In a scene where everyone is having a party on the submarine deck a nurse remarks to a CPO that she thinks the paint that the sub has to put on is beautiful and the CPO chokes at that point. They had to mix red lead with white lead paint to have enough paint to do the entire boat. Mixing red & white together gives you a, hummm beautiful "Pink" color. Thanks Ryan for another great update. The NJ is looking - - - Beautiful. PJ

[@kraggman]

“If the subs get 6” away they’ll see us.” 😂😂

[@rearspeaker6364]

the N.Koreans think it's an active ship, they send their sub to investigate.......

[@Lilljehook]

I'm impressed your videos are getting better and better. The difference from the first videos are insane, the sound was horrible Great work, thanks for the updates

[@TMccrury]

The red looks great and as mentioned puts in the time period desired.

[@werewolfsaves2179]

Battleship New Jersey is blessed to have you guys on board. I hope to come see her one day. Maybe even meet the you tube crew.

[@danielmkubacki]

The red looks good!

[@KenR1800]

I think she looks very sharp! Great Job!

[@robertbeaty4909]

I had a large tin of powdered copper that I used to mix in with the bottom paint when I owned my 57 Chris. It would turn green and nothing would grow on it which made me happy. When I first stripped the bottom paint some of the original bottom paint was still on it and would not strip or sand. It was loaded with copper enough to shine.

[@earlyriser8998]

Owned a fiberglas sailboat and painted the hull red (copper mix anti-fouling) for years. It worked and when it failed we pulled the boat to recoat.

[@will5286]

Ryan is, of course, right-a little enhancement. Copper sheets (12 to 18 gauge, 2-6 square feet generally) were fabricated to fit together snugly and were bedded onto the hull with pine tar and then nailed with copper nails. Copper sheet was then, and is now, very expensive and only the more important war ships (and other vessels with big money behind them) were protected with copper-everyone else just got along. England was graced with extremely high tides and long shallow beaches, so boats and ships would sail over the beach at high water and as the tide dropped the boat would be careened (allowed to settle on one side so the hull could be scraped and covered with pitch (hot pine tar) during one tide). As paint technology developed: a lead based paint (outlawed in the 1980s) that incorporated large amounts of copper powder came into being as a much less expensive alternative for copper sheet. It was deep red in color (a common brand was "Red Hand") and became the universal anti-fouling paint for ALL boats and ships. It was somewhat effective but it leached away harming wildlife (copper is toxic). High tech anti-fouling paints have since the 80's take on the job and are pretty remarkable.

[@Bluenoser613]

"Submarines have a notorious lack of windows." That's some top quality commentary there. LOL!

[@markp.9707]

Leave it red!! Looks awesome and is correct.

[@D4rkn3ss2000]

Hmmm... Interesting. I always wondered why the Italian ships in WoWS were bottom green while all others were red. So that's why. Thanks Ryan 😉

[@timbowden1680]

I was told they were glass-bottomed so they could see the rest of their navy.

[@chrismattox12]

The red looks great! Love that you decided to go with that, even if no one is going to see it 😄

[@raydunakin]

I like the traditional red bottom look.

[@steveskouson9620]

Since the bottom won't be visible, I'd use the cheapest GOOD paint I could find. Since "you can't see the bottom" it doesn't matter. Wasn't there a sub during WWII, that had the "Operation Petticoat" pink paint job on it? Mixed red lead, and white lead antifouling paint. Ryan, THANK YOU for doing these videos! steve

[@robertbeaty4909]

That sub was abandoned in Long Beach in 1978 and it was still painted pink. I remember my ship having a party and some of the snipes got drunk enough to try and start it and go on a cruise. LOL

[@michaelryan4193]

"Notorious lack of windows" 🤣🤣🤣

[@user-ji8fq4sk1m]

The paint job looks absolutely FIRE

[@gwalker3092]

Lovely to see her how she would have been while in service. I carnt imagine how amazing she will be once this work is all finished. Incredible job by all involved 👍 6:58

[@fribbledeedee1606]

Looking good in red

[@tellyknessis6229]

Different ships, different cap tallies - as they say in the RN. In the 80s HMS Exeter was the first RN ship to have a new commercially available below the waterline paint. Only problem was, they didn't do it in "Pusser's Pink" initially... So Exeter was a one-off trial - with a jaunty bright blue hull for a couple of years. As regards tradition v innovation, the RN's DG Ships (- the in-house design authority at Bath) was somewhat unkindly known as "the cork in the a*sehole of progress".

[@the_lost_navigator]

Ryan would make a great Grade-school Teacher - with Respect, eh.

[@SgfGustafsson]

A lot of Swedish houses are painted in "falu" red, a copper based paint named after the old largest copper mine in Falun.

[@warrenjones744]

Oustanding series in the Drydock Ryan. I have been enjoying it very much.

[@SYBEX21]

I know at Bremerton, the carriers are painted like you are doing; I too woudl have gone with the red. Waht a massive undertaking, and fun to watch. I asppreciate you groups approach to "preserving " the history and the extensive mindfullness that you are putting into her.

[@stevenkessler1279]

Love the red!! Looks so sharp. Really appreciate the focus on history with the drydock work

[@george_364]

I think the red looks good on the videos and photos from the drydocking. And it fits with the tradition and interpretation of the ship.

[@tbugher62]

Navy Grey and Red goes perfect together,always has.

[@phillyskyguy9535]

I'm putting my finishing touches on my model of the Battleship NJ. So glad the paint on the actual ship turned out similar to my model kit, I painted it before the ship was painted

[@richmantz7579]

I wish I had a chance to come out there. I have enjoyed your videos for several years now!

[@stephenhammer7357]

starting to look great

[@whatever8282828]

It's nice to admit the choice is ultimately cosmetic in order to match a particular historical period of interpretation. It now surely matches all those awesome building-block kits that Ryan uses to illustrate various parts of the ship!

[@DavidSmith-cx8dg]

I think every RN. Ship I've seen docked has had the same red , black , grey colour scheme and the underwater has always been red . Certainly New Jersey looks much better now than when she was docked .The black wind / water line as an additional anti fouling coat makes perfect sense . Curious , looking behind Ryan the props are unpainted as they would have been when the ship was operational , when she docked they had been painted to preserve them .

[@Shipspotting_Vietnam]

Thanks for sharing ❤❤❤❤❤!!!

[@HoustonRoad]

She looks fantastic!!

[@jar8459]

Thanks Ryan

[@henrycarlson7514]

So Wise , Thank You . Res is good

[@davidbarnsley8486]

I love these short videos It matches my attention span 😂😂😂

[@codylittle1229]

awesome color

[@DerekIcelord]

I wish I could swing a trip out to the drydock to see Big J while she's out of the water. I love the classic red you went with. Had it been up to me, that's the color I'd pick as well.

[@jetdriver]

Totally agree with the call to go red. It’s the right color for when she was in service and since it was an option within your coating system why not.

[@Alexia_Nothisone]

I’m all in for the next drydock you paint the bottom bright pink

[@edwardhewer8530]

Go the red. Looks great and reminds me of my dad’s sailboat he had.

[@julijsrutmanis7618]

In 20s and 30s of XX century chemistry wasn't developed so much and common anti-rust protection was applying "iron minium" paint, which main component was iron oxide mixed with drying oil - red by color. Once I found in grandfather garage can with such paint, made by "Ford" - and after 50 years from production date it was possible to use it for original purpose...

[@Coyote5005]

Looks sharp

[@MisterLongShot_Official]

The red looks great! Also one of the Ticonderoga class cruisers got blue bottom paint, USS Port Royal. I believe it was a test of a new type of coating.

[@jonathansmith6050]

IIRC the very first iron hulled ships did try using the traditional copper sheathing -- and got a quick and pointed lesson in galvanic corrosion! The dissimilar metals and saltwater setting up a reaction that started consuming the hull. Oops. Then there was a period where they used a wooden backing on the copper to electrically isolate it from the iron hull - before eventually coming up with the iron-/steel-safe anti-fouling paints that Ryan talked about.

[@grouseroadie]

Thanks!

[@jameslong3351]

Good old RedLead bilge paint. We use to paint the bilges on the Midway with that stuff using a mop. Hundreds of gallons of that stuff, don't miss it at all.

Thx for the Video. I think Red looks good on her.

[@F-Man]

As I understand, some of the earliest anti-fouling paints had materials in them that gave them an orange-red hue - it just sorta stuck.

[@aserta]

Copper oxide types. Banned afaik.

[@Norbrookc]

Now it's tradition!

[@SnakebitSTI]

According to Wikipedia, some modern anti-fouling paints are still copper oxide based. And yeah, the paint designed to kill marine life so it can't stick to the hull is toxic to marine life. As far as I know no one has yet figured out a good anti-fouling coating which isn't an environmental hazard.

[@TheMitchyb61]

Looks good in red!

[@madisonbusman7688]

What an excellent explanation for this! Thanks! Also, we normally have submarine races here in Madison on the Ohio River- very fun to watch 😁

[@Stephen.Bingham]

In British English copper-bottomed means “trustworthy” and/or “certain to succeed”. I believe that this comes from the copper anti fouling that was applied to Royal Navy ships, and apparently largely developed in that context. It’s been claimed that the dominance of the Royal Navy in the 18th and early 19th century was partly due to this practice/technology.

[@haroldmclean3755]

Very interesting 👍

[@ewathoughts8476]

Red is better for a ship in a river and going nowhere. It will show up problems easier if you ever have to have a diver do an inspection. I do not know the current status but I used to buy out of date US Navy bottom paint from Subic Bay surplus. We could get red or black (mostly for submarines) at $100 a 5 gal. pail. I found the black to be superior as it would last for over 3 years in the Hong Kong Marina I kept my sailboat in. Boats in the adjacent docks never got mussel growth on the sides that faced my boat so they would swap ends every time they went out and returned. My dock floated higher than the adjacent ones as there was much less growth on the pontoons. I think that paint is outlawed for civilian use, and it weighed about 1.6 times more than any commercial paint around.

[@budyn1412]

I was on the Wisconsin in the same drydock in 1990 or so. She definitely got red anti-fouling paint, though I remember it being more of a brownish red.

[@jeremycraft8452]

The red looks great. The only other color scheme I might suggest is Measure 21 so she’s in her “Black Dragon” configuration, but USS Texas already did Measure 21. Since you’re interpreting her from 1989, I suppose it’s going to be haze grey.

[@RayBoebel]

My dad had a 32ft wooden boat. Only came out of the water in May for maintenance for 4 days. The reason was it was African Fir and was notorious for "drying out". Anyway, he would take Friday and Monday off from work telling them he had Red Bottom Fever. Back in the 70's and 80's, he used a paint called Baltimore Red Copper. The stuff was eventually banned. The boat I had was fiberglass and I used blue paint made by Interlux (who has other colors) but it matched the boat better. Oh and LOL about the lack of windows on subs!!!

[@Adiscretefirm]

Red's cool, but what is really cool are the dry dock series that have let me see parts of the ship that haven't been seen in decades

[@BrianHoff04]

Amazing! What a great explanation. I've been wondering where this is going & why. Terrific explanation. I also like seeing the scope of the project. I see Ryan on screen. Perhaps 2 feet of him (chest to head), In the back is a propellor 19' tall but it looks 1.5 feet tall compared to Ryan. Gives me a sense of how far away he is and the view angle of the camera. My geek in me would love if the video would start out where Ryan is fully viewed (head to foot) then a slow zoom, past Ryan, until the propellor fills the screen.. that seems it would show a neat scale. Wow.. watching the videos turned me into some kind of cinematographer. That was weird. It's how much I like these vids.

[@GordonjSmith1]

'lack of windows in a submarine' - brilliant answer!

[@Farlomous]

If a submarine gets within 6" of the ship in the Delaware River, I would have a lot more questions and concerns

[@rearspeaker6364]

those N.Koreans may check her out.

[@Reuben-]

I like the red paint. I used that color in a lot of bilge spaces when I was stationed on a ship.

[@glloyd1987]

She's looking good 👍 God bless America 🇺🇸

[@dowlewis8307]

Red was the right choice, Ryan. You’ve done Big J proud. She’s in good hands.

[@TheChonaman]

I built about a dozen WWI and WWII era warships, some that were fairly large motorized kits including USS Iowa, IJN Musashi, HMS Hood, IJN Shinano. These models came with pre-painted bottoms, always red. Other smaller scale models did not come with pre-painted bottoms, but the instructions always stated the correct color choice was red (a specific red, Testors model paint). That doesn't mean it was right, of course, As the Hood's dock records show her anti-fouling paint color as gray, that's one example!

[@FranktheDachshund]

My model New Jersey wore red paint on the bottom maybe 1972.

[@johnrauner2515]

The red looks very cool

[@keithrosenberg5486]

Tradition is good!

[@markpaul87]

The traditional look of the red underside looks good

[@Charstring]

There's a story related to marine life growing on hulls below the waterline - Queen Victoria was listening to some (rather deaf) admiral talking about ships, got bored, and asked about his sister. The admiral said "she was encrusted with barnacles ma'am, we had to careen her over and scrape her bottom".

[@bobcougar77]

Anyone who has seen Starblazer's knows just how cool it is to have the two tone color scheme.

[@Ic3q4]

I like that shes red, its like shes blushing :D so much attention to this lovely vessel :3

[@DK-gy7ll]

I was really surprised when they painted the hull black on USS Texas and didn't apply any red paint.

[@KJAkk]

I have also heard that the pigment used to make red paint was one of the cheapest ones. As for other colors, I have seen photos of one of the Ticonderoga class ships with blue paint on the bottom.