Government Colors in Hex for Internet Web Sites
Mountbatten Pink Color

Mountbatten Pink - #997A8D

Mountbatten Pink is a naval camouflage color resembling grayish mauve. It was first used by Louis Mountbatten of the British Royal Navy during World War II. After noticing a Union-Castle Line ship with a similar camouflage colour disappearing from sight, he applied the color to his own ships, believing the color would render his ships difficult to see during dawn and dusk. While the color was met with anecdotal success, it was judged by experts to be equivalent to neutral greys at best and would make ships with the color more obvious at worst.

In 1940, while escorting a convoy, Louis Mountbatten of the British Royal Navy noted that one ship in the group vanished from view much earlier than the remainder. The ship, a Union-Castle liner, was painted lavender mauve grey. Mountbatten thus became convinced of the color's effectiveness as a camouflage during dawn and dusk, often dangerous times for ships, and had all of the destroyers of his flotilla painted with a similar pigment, which he created by mixing a medium grey with a small amount of Venetian Red. By early 1941, several other ships began using the same camouflage, though no formal testing was done to determine how well it worked.