Dispatches from the Middle Circle

The Russian Tarantul III class “corvettes” have to be my favorite shitty warships, just look at her! A small patrol craft barely managing to be a missile boat while actually serving as a corvette, with a radome taller than the superstructure, main missiles bigger than the bow section, a main naval cannon that can’t (probably) be fired at the sides or else the ship capsizes, and not one but TWO CIWS cannons, both at the bow section for some reason.

Keep in mind, these were made to replace earlier missile boats, basically being enlarged versions for better seakeeping, which was somewhat offset by the addition of so many new sensors and weapons, giving us cramped and rocky boats hated by both crews and maintenance staff.

The Allies didn't let their pilots paint their machines so much, although squadron insignia (e.g., Richenbacher's Hat In the Ring) or personal ensigns (Nungesser's skull, crossbones, coffin and twin candles) were tolerated on the sides of the machines.

That didn't mean Allied machines were drab. Early Nieuports were white all over; the Sopwith Triplanes of No. 1 Naval Squadron were black all over.

And it's mostly just the scouts that are painted all garish-like. The earliest use of aeroplanes in war was for artillery spotting and photo reconnaissance, and after the heroic ace pilot captured the imaginations of Europe and the States, the workhorse two-seaters kept snapping photos of the lines and the rear areas. They needed to go unnoticed both in the air and on the ground, so even the German ones were camouflaged - although sometimes they got painted a nice sky blue.

But the aces got all the attention. Isn't that the way it always goes? While the Allies tried to keep their machines at least a little camouflaged, the Germans leaned into the Flying Circus for purposes of morale, propaganda, and terror. Although given that JG I tended to operate all four of its Jastas on the same mission, the peacocking was probably not what made Allied pilots quail so much as the sheer numbers.