The names of Kriegsmarine paints were, not surprisingly, in German. The translations below of the German terms for colours will help those of us who are unfamiliar with this language.

grau=grey, grün=green, blau=blue, braun=brown, oliv=olive, weiß=white, rot=red, schwarz=black, schlick=mud, hell=light, mittel=medium, dunkel=dark

The list below includes most of the Kriegsmarine paints that were used upon the U-boat fleet. The number after the name is the DKM (Deutsche Kriegsmarine) designation.

Hellgrau 50 (RAL7001, FS36375)
This light grey, also called Silbergrau (silver grey) or Hellgrau 4, was used upon the superstructures of pre-and early-war surface vessels.
Suitable paints: Colourcoats KM01, JPS 91-004, X255 (RAL7001), X136 (FS16375), Humbrol 127, Revell 374, MM1728 (FS36375)

Hellgrau 50 (alternative) (RAL7038, FS36492) N.B. This alternative colour for the above Hellgrau 50 is explained later in the Hellgrau 50 section
Suitable paints: Colourcoats KM13, X221 (RLM 63), Humbrol 147 or 166, Revell 76 (add white).

Dunkelgrau 51 (RAL7000, FS35237)
Even though Dunkelgrau means “dark grey”, this was a medium blue-grey. It has been referred to as Fehgrau (squirrel grey) and Dunkelgrau 3. It was used upon the upper hull sides of pre-and early-war surface vessels.
Suitable paints: Colourcoats KM02 (too much blue), JPS 91-003, X126, Humbrol 145, Revell 57 (add white), MM1721 (FS35237).

Dunkelgrau 52 (RAL7024, FS36076)
This dark neutral grey was a little lighter than Schiffsbodenfarbe III Grau. It has also been referred to as Graphitgrau (graphite grey) and Dunkelgrau 2.
Suitable paints: Colourcoats KM06, JPS 91-002, Humbrol 67, Revell 74.

Dunkelgrau 53 (RAL7016, in between FS36076 and FS35042)
This paint was the same colour as Schiffsbodenfarbe III Grau, but did not contain any anti-fouling ingredients. It has also been referred to as Anthrazitgrau (anthracite grey) and Dunkelgrau 1.

Schiffsbodenfarbe III Grau (RAL7016, in between FS36076 and FS35042)
The DKM number for this very dark grey anti-fouling paint was 23a and 23b. It was also known as Wasserlinienfarbe W.L. III Grau and Anthrazitgrau (anthracite grey). This was the same colour (RAL7016) as Dunkelgrau 53/Dunkelgrau 1, but included anti-fouling ingredients in the paint.
Suitable paints: Colourcoats KM05, JPS 91-001, X802 (RAL7016), X128 (FS16076), Humbrol 123, Revell 78,
MM2101 (RAL7016).

The following three petrol-proof camouflage paints had no RAL equivalent codes given in the painting regulations.

Schlickgrau 58 (slightly darker than 36134)
Schlickgrau, which means “mud-grey”, was a medium to dark grey with a hint of green.
Suitable paints: Colourcoats KM11, JPS 91-029, Humbrol 78 + 31, Revell 47

Blaugrau 58/1 (darker than 36152)
A medium to dark grey with a hint of blue.
Suitable paints: Colourcoats KM12, JPS 91-030, X254, Humbrol 79, Revell 77.

Blauschwarz 58/2 (35044)
A very dark blue.
Suitable paints: JPS 91-031, Humbrol 15 (add black), Revell 350 (add black).

The Colourcoats range was produced by John Snyder of White Ensign Models; their website is at - http://whiteensignmodels.com As he participated in producing the Snyder & Short Enterprises paint chip cards, the Colourcoats paints correspond directly to the Snyder & Short paint chips. The JPS Modell acrylic paints can be found at - http://www.jpsmodell.de/shop/jpswn_e.htm

NB. The Federal Standard codes are only the nearest codes to the RAL codes, which are themselves only cross-references to the original Kriegsmarine paints. It must again be stated that adherence to the RAL or Federal Standard codes are not necessary by modellers. Dunkelgrau 51, etc. were paints, not colours, and thus varied to a degree in colour. The variation in colour between the Dunkelgrau 51 paint used by one yard to that of another yard was much greater than we would expect today. The weathering suffered by a U-boat would further alter the colour.

I have been unable to ascertain whether the other Kriegsmarine colours below were ever used on U-boats. These colours were specified in the November 1941 painting regulations -
31/1 Hellgrau (light grey)
31/2 Dunkelgrau (dark grey)
32/1 Hellgrün (light green)
32/2 Dunkelgrün (dark green)
32/3 Olivgrün (olive green)
32/4 Hellbraun (light brown)
32/5 Dunkelbraun (dark brown)
32/6 Rosa (pink)
32/7 Blau (blue)

There were also three “Norwegian” colours which were based on Korvettenkapitän Dechend’s 1942 memorandum. Again, I have not been able to determine whether they were ever used upon U-boats. These were –

Dunkelblaugrau (dark blue grey, FS35044)
Mittelblaugrau (medium blue grey, FS35240)
Hellblaugrau (light blue grey, FS35488)

Kriegsmarine colours can be found in the two-part set of paint chip cards produced by Snyder & Short Enterprises. These are the best reproductions of the colours of the Kriegsmarine paints that are available to us at present. The cards, which are available from http://www.shipcamouflage.com and http://whiteensignmodels.com include actual paint chips rather than printed inks. They were produced from research materials generated by Flak Pletscher, the authors Dieter Jung, Arno Abendroth and Norbert Kelling and their book "Anstriche und Tarnanstriche der deustschen Kriegsmarine" (Painting and Camouflage of the German Navy) Second Edition (Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 1997), and archival chips and material sent to the RAL Institute. The latter material had been in use by the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven shipyard in 1944. The colours in the above book were based on an examination of colour cards that were returned to Germany by the Russians in the 1990s.

Hellgrau 50

In the many available photos of pre- and early-war Kriegsmarine battleships, there is often quite a contrast between the light grey Hellgrau 50 paint used on the superstructures and the medium blue-grey Dunkelgrau 51 paint used upon the upper hull sides. This contrast is usually greater than the contrast between RAL7001 and RAL7000, the RAL codes assigned to these paints in the 1940s. In addition, the light grey Hellgrau 50 looks almost white in photos where direct sunlight is present, and reports from early in the war noted that the light grey superstructure shined almost white in bright weather conditions. These points have caused me to wonder if the Hellgrau 50 paint was actually quite a bit lighter than the RAL7001 colour assigned to it. It should be noted that others who have studied Kriegsmarine colours have, independently of myself, come to ponder this same question.

During 1941 ships such as the Bismarck, the Prinz Eugen and the Lützow appeared in “Baltic stripes” camouflage. These ships had black and white stripes painted over their Hellgrau 50 superstructures and Dunkelgrau 51 upper hulls, plus dark grey areas at their bows and sterns. The S&S paint chip cards have separate chips for the colours used in this Baltic scheme. They are so much lighter than the normal 50/51 colours that I originally assumed that paints with completely different Kriegsmarine codes had been used. I came to learn, somewhat frustratingly, that Hellgrau 50 and Dunkelgrau 51 were used in this Baltic scheme, but that the colour of the Hellgrau 50 and Dunkelgrau 51 paints used in the Baltic scheme varied from the RAL7001 and RAL7000 codes normally associated with these Kriegsmarine paints.

The basis for the “Baltic” colours in the S&S paint chip cards came from two drawings. The first drawing, found in the Bundesarchiv by the author Hans Georg Prager, was of the Lützow, and the second drawing was of a Type 35/37 Torpedoboat. They both call for the Hellgrau 50 superstructure, which according to the official reckoning should be RAL7001, to be RAL7038. Though these are unofficial paint matches, they should certainly be taken into consideration as they accord with the very light grey often seen in colour and black and white photos of Hellgrau 50, and with the early reports of “superstructures shining almost white”.

Having carefully considered the above information, I believe that the Hellgrau 50 paint may have been as light as RAL7038 (FS36492) on occasions. It would surely have been somewhere close to RAL7001 (FS36375) on other vessels at other times since that was the RAL code cross-referenced to it. In the table above I have suggested RAL7038 as an “alternative Hellgrau 50” colour. I further suggest that the real Hellgrau 50 paint used upon numerous Kriegsmarine vessels could have ranged anywhere between, and including, this RAL7038 code and the more traditional RAL7001.

This variation in colour is much greater than I had expected. Falk Pletscher astutely notes upon the variation in the colour of the Hellgrau 50 paint that, “I am quite sure that the colour of the paint Hellgrau 50 was not exactly defined. Otherwise it would have been taken into the RAL register.”