HMS NORFOLK, flagship of C-in-C East Indies, 1937

This watercolour is dated (verso) 1937 when the heavy 8 inch cruiser HMS NORFOLK (Flag Captain L H K Hamilton DSO RN) was flagship of the Commander-in-Chief East Indies, Vice Admiral the Hon Sir Alexander Maule Ramsay KCB KCVO DSO. The painting is Tufnell at his best: crisp and finely detailed and of historic interest, too, as it shows the RN's East Indies and China Fleets' livery of buff masts and funnels and white hulls: the distinctive colours were discontinued in 1947/48 for all but the Surveying Flotilla.