US Skate Class 1980s Paint Schedule Question

[wlambing]

Folks,

Did the Skate Class get hull red paint on the lower hull late in their lives, or did they stay black all over? An ongoing project needs this answer.

Thanks!

Bill

[Davjacva]

My first class while I was on the Charlotte had been on the Skate in the mid-80's (Osborne). It would have followed the standard navy paint schedule having anti-fouling red lower, anti-fouling black upper, black above the waterline and a flatter black for the sail (F-150-series). I knew the head painter Op sup at Newport News and was asking him about it one time looking at a sub get the 3-tone paintjob, and he said 'they all get the same paintjob, its standard for the navy'. This was kind of new to me, as I've painted many subs, even the entire section forward of the reactor inside a 688, and was really only familiar with subs while in the water, as the shipyards would do everything below the waterline, and I recalled that the Vallejo got this treatment from Charleston Naval Shipyard. Skate would've been the same for that time.