Hi Martin:

The upper decks should not be light grey, but dark grey. All Type-VII's decks were made of wood except for the extreme bow and stern which was steel. The wood would have been painted. They did change the style of the decks during the war to speed up production. The following, from my notes, is what I have found out about the grays (right or wrong?, you decide).

(1). U-995, the only Type-VIIc/41 left in the world, was painted using the following RAL codes, that are universal in Germany.
(a.) all vertical sufaces above the waterline: light gray (RAL 7001 silver gray).
(b.) all surfaces below waterline: dark gray RAL 7031 (blue gray).
(c.) hull deck, turmumbau deck and wintergarden deck: dark gray RAL 7031 (blue gray) or black anti-skid, which turned to a dark gray after a few days in the sun.

(2.) Subcommittee U-boat experts recommend the following paint codes, that are available in the U.S.A.:
(a.) RLM 63 lichtgrau or Light Ghost gray FS36375: all vertical sufaces above waterline.
(b.) RLM 72 Grun or Euro 1 Gray FS36081: all surfaces below waterline & all horizontal surfaces: i.e.... upper hull decks, conning tower deck, wintergarden decks, and upper portions of spray defector.

Also some of the U-boat experts have said that at the start WWII some of the U-boats had red lower hulls, but at the next dry docking they were painted the dark gray to keep the U-boat from being seen from the air. Some other experts say that there has never been red lower hull U-boats.

Maybe some original U-boat members (been there, done that), that monitor this list, might shed some more light on this subject. What did you remember seeing at the dry docks and slipways? (Im voraus besten Dank.)

Good Luck and Good Hunting,
Jerry Pope
Georgia U.S.A.