Ciao Schnellboot, Abram and all,
@ Schnellboot,
well I think Abram as already answered to you quite well,.. as he is fast on learning and we talked quite a bit about this interesting aspect of the Admiral Hipper life as well as the KM warships way to do those things, .. which is part of the fun of working together with such a clever guy, .... I am sure you understand.
In addittion to what Abram correctly wrote about Luftwaffe air coverage expectation from the KM ships ,.. jointly agreed with Kriegsmarine after Op. Wikinger disaster ( Z1 and Z3 sunk by HE 111 bombers on Heligoland on February 1940,.. and curious to know that the ' agreement ' was signed on board Adm Hipper on February 22, 1940,... were the board of inquiry for that '' incident '' took place ..

) we have to think about Brest harbour docking precautions too.
So it is obvious that they did not wanted to be a ''better '' target for RAF bombers while under their coverage in Brest dry dock's.
Consequently the ship air recognition marks were covered-hidden with canvas as Abram correctly saw on the photos I sent him,... to be removed when the ship was sailing into Luftwaffe range, .. either starting the search for convoys on her Atlantic missions,..as well as during some trials she had on the close harbour area but still under Luftwaffe air range,..many photos do exist and you see the top turrets colous visible as well as the swastika banners.
Than when the ship was docked again,..immediately they covered the top turrets with canvas as well as the swastika banners. ....... and put nets on the ship too, trying to hide her on the bassin ( dry dock ) she was into.
When the mission required long time out of lLuftwaffe range usually they painted over everything to re-paint it coming under Luftwaffe air coverage again,.. maybe with different top turrets colour code,... for precaution.
Hope my explanation is clear enough.
@ Abram,
I have no problems to post infos,.. but I have to care about books photo copyright.
That is why I am sending you on a private mail a version of the photos you can post, .. from Italian books,... so it will be no problems for anybody.
We will show Admiral Hipper into Laninon bassin nr 9 in Brest ( the one Schnellboot showed too ) usually the one were Gneisenau was.
But Adm Hipper was not only on that bassin, ....
http://www.kbismarck.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1209
Ciao Antonio
