[Stig Jarlevik]

Since nobody raised to the occasion my own thoughts are:

The Germans didn't have a clue....
I also doubt the British (or Americans) found out that the Germans began to operate with the same thinking.

The Americans never bothered about it.
Both the AAF and Navy went straight ahead with their production vs s/n.

Seems the Italians never bothered about it either, while the Japanese used their own "hiding system".

Of course gaps occurred but that was due to canceled batches.

Cheers
Stig