Gerald Pawle

“Perpetually shrouded in a dense, clammy fog, Cardington was a depressing place, and the only really contented mortal there that chill November was the resident observer, who used to ascend to 2000 feet every morning in a balloon, and spend the day sitting happily with a book in the autumn sunshine.”
― Gerald Pawle, Secret Weapons of World War II

“Scott therefore devised an off-white camouflage for the Broke, and this was such a spectacular success that she was rammed by a trawler while at anchor in the Foyle, the trawler’s captain protesting afterwards that Broke was invisible! On another occasion Broke and Verity collided 300 miles out in the Atlantic, the latter ship failing to sight Broke at all until the last moment. Eventually all warships in the North Atlantic and Home waters were painted to this specification, after the colour scheme had been somewhat modified. Always to the fore in adopting new ideas, Captain Mountbatten became a keen supporter of the change, and he had the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla disguised in a curious shade of pale mauve which became known as “Mountbatten pink.” This particular colour earned understandable popularity with harassed First Lieutenants, for it showed up dirt and rust a good deal less conspicuously than Scott’s off-white camouflage.”
― Gerald Pawle, Secret Weapons of World War II