THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 28, 1994 TAG: 9412280413
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER
DATELINE: WILMINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Christmas came on Pearl Harbor Day this year for David Scheu and Roger Miller.
As their tiny skiff motored around and under the gargantuan bow of the North Carolina, the battleship memorial's top brass marveled at what they saw.
``Oh, I love it. It is soooo good,'' Scheu cried. ``Oh, is this going to be fun!''
The ship took a torpedo in its port bow during World War II. Now, its starboard looks as if it has taken a broadside from abstract artists.
Soon, the ship they called the Showboat will again wear its 1944 battle dress - an angular five-color camouflage from stem to stern.
It's historically accurate - but, as Miller said, sort of like putting graffiti on the courthouse. The North Carolina, in the Wilmington harbor since being rescued from the scrap yard 33 years ago, is one of the state's most recognizable landmarks. And, on the Cape Fear River skyline and on all the postcards, it's always been battleship gray.
From now on, color it pale gray, haze gray, Navy blue, deck blue and white - 800 gallons of paint, mixed up after research of paint chips in the Navy's archives. The coating will cost $75,000 - covered, as are all the memorial's expenses, by admission and gift shop receipts - and is expected to last eight years.
Camouflage paint, of course, isn't worth a nickel to modern warships. It can't hide them from electronics that can see them long before the human eye does.
But during World War II, when radar was in its infancy, paint schemes were used to confuse the enemy's ability to determine what type of craft it was confronting, as well as its distance and course. The North Carolina wore four different schemes between 1941 and 1947.
This one, called ``Measure 32'' by the Navy, is the most radical departure from plain gray.
``I'm telling people, if you want to see the ship, you'd better go see it now,'' said Paul Wieser, a boatswain's mate on the ship from 1941 to 1946. ``You won't be able to find it when they finish.''
Wieser, who volunteers at the memorial, was on deck when the North Carolina entered Pearl Harbor in July 1942 - the first new warship to enter the harbor after the Japanese attack. He was there when it got its Measure 32 colors at Bremerton, Wash.
``It's going to be nice to see her that way again,'' he said.
Scheu, director of the memorial, expects a lot of double takes. But in a town that thrives on its history, he thinks the change will be well received. ``This town will go nuts,'' he said.
The North Carolina is expected to be shown far beyond the town in September, when it will be one of four sites designated by the Department of Defense to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the war.
KEYWORDS: NORTH CAROLINA, U.S.S. BATTLESHIP by CNB