Is Hale Navy blue or gray?

Hale Navy (BM HC-154) is a grayed navy — a deep blue with a neutral, gray undertone at LRV 7.1. Our color database files it in the gray family rather than blue, because that gray base mutes its saturation, which is why it reads as a soft, near-neutral navy instead of an electric one. In bright light the blue shows through; in dim or north-facing light it flattens toward near-black.

What is the closest Sherwin-Williams color to Hale Navy?

Sherwin-Williams Sea Mariner (SW 9640, #434a54) is the closest match to Hale Navy, at a Delta E of 0.8 — near-identical on the wall. Naval (SW 6244) is the more famous comparison, but it is not the closest: Naval sits at LRV 4.5 in the blue family, darker and bluer than Hale Navy at LRV 7.1.

Hale Navy vs. Naval — which should I use?

Both are deep navies, but Hale Navy (BM HC-154, LRV 7.1, gray family) is the softer, more flexible one — its gray undertone keeps it near-neutral, so it holds up across changing light and suits cabinets, trim, and whole walls. Naval (SW 6244, LRV 4.5, blue family) is darker and reads as a truer, more saturated blue; pick it when you want a navy that commits, like a front door or a moody accent wall.

What colors go with Hale Navy?

For trim and contrast, Benjamin Moore White Dove (OC-17, LRV 83.2) is the standard warm white against Hale Navy. For adjacent walls, Repose Gray (SW 7015, LRV 58.4) is a light neutral that keeps the scheme calm. If you want a moodier tonal partner rather than a contrast, Gentleman's Gray (BM 2062-20, LRV 5.8) is a bluer deep navy that layers beside Hale Navy without competing.

Hale Navy (BM HC-154): Undertones, Coordinating Colors & Cross-Brand Matches

Hale Navy(Benjamin Moore) (BM HC-154) is a grayed navy at LRV 7.1 — a deep blue with a neutral, gray undertone that keeps it muted instead of electric. That gray base is why our database files it in the gray family, not blue, and it is exactly what makes Hale Navy easy to live with: it excels on cabinets, front doors, exteriors, and accent walls, where its depth reads as classic rather than loud. The one place to be careful is a dim or north-facing room — at LRV 7.1 it flattens toward near-black when the light is low. Every hex, LRV, undertone, and cross-brand match below comes straight from our color database.

The Numbers

Hale Navy's exact values, straight from the database: hex #444c57, LRV 7.1, a neutral undertone, and — the detail most guides skip — a gray-family classification. LRV runs 0 (black) to 100 (white); at 7.1 Hale Navy sits near the bottom, which is why it behaves like a dark neutral rather than a bright color. The code is BM HC-154. That gray-family filing is not a quirk of our system — it is the single fact that explains how the color acts on a wall, which the next section gets into.

Undertones and How the Light Changes It

The undertone is neutral, and that is the whole story with Hale Navy. A saturated navy carries an obvious blue, sometimes a violet edge; Hale Navy's gray base pulls that saturation down, so instead of a bold blue you get a deep, slightly smoky navy that stays composed. In bright, south-facing light it shows its blue more clearly and gains a little depth. In dim or north-facing light — the kind with no warm sun to lift it — it loses the blue and flattens toward charcoal or near-black. That is the trade with any LRV-7 color: depth in exchange for light-hunger. On a small feature like a door, an island, or cabinetry, that depth is the point. On a large wall in a low-light room it can close the space in, so test a big sample on the actual wall and look at it morning and night before committing. If your room faces north, our guide to the best paint colors for north-facing rooms is worth reading first.

Hale Navy vs. Naval

The comparison people search for most is Hale Navy against Sherwin-Williams Naval(Sherwin-Williams) (SW 6244), and the two are genuinely different despite both getting called "deep navy." Naval sits at LRV 4.5 in the blue family; Hale Navy is LRV 7.1 in the gray family. In plain terms, Naval is darker and reads as a truer, more saturated blue, while Hale Navy is a touch lighter and grayer. Pick Naval when you want a navy that commits — a front door, a moody accent wall, a small room you want to feel like a jewel box. Pick Hale Navy when you want a navy that stays flexible across changing light and plays almost like a dark neutral, on cabinets, trim, and whole walls in rooms with decent light. And if even Naval is not deep enough, In the Navy(Sherwin-Williams) (SW 9178, LRV 3.8) is the darker step again.

The Closest Match in Every Brand

If you love Hale Navy but buy a different brand, here are its closest equivalents — scored by how similar they actually look rather than by name. The nearest of all is Sherwin-Williams Sea Mariner(Sherwin-Williams) (SW 9640) at a Delta E of 0.8: near-identical, and a much closer Sherwin-Williams match than the better-known Naval. Valspar Royal Navy(Valspar) and Kilz Prussian Blue(Kilz) are also near-identical. Behr Dark Night(Behr) and Dunn-Edwards Deepest Sea(Dunn-Edwards) both land close enough to read as the same color in a room. PPG Cavalry(PPG) and Dutch Boy Navigation(Dutch Boy) are the nearest their lines offer, but both drift a visible step cooler and grayer — worth a side-by-side check before you treat either as a swap. The one to watch is Farrow & Ball Railings(Farrow & Ball): it is a visible difference from Hale Navy, reading more charcoal than navy, so do not treat the two as interchangeable. The full deep-navy range lives in blue paint colors, and — for the gray-undertone reason above — Hale Navy itself files under gray paint colors.

Coordinating Colors

For trim, ceilings, and cabinetry contrast, the standard partner is Benjamin Moore White Dove(Benjamin Moore) (OC-17, LRV 83.2) — a soft warm white that sharpens Hale Navy without the hard edge a stark white would give. For adjacent walls, Repose Gray(Sherwin-Williams) (SW 7015, LRV 58.4) is a light, balanced neutral that keeps the rest of the room calm so the navy stays the feature. And if you want a tonal partner instead of a contrast — two deep colors layered rather than dark against light — Gentleman's Gray(Benjamin Moore) (BM 2062-20, LRV 5.8) is a bluer, moodier deep navy that sits beside Hale Navy without competing. Build a full scheme around any of these in the palette generator.

Try It, Then Match It

To see Hale Navy on your own walls before you buy a sample, drop a room photo into the room visualizer. To check exactly how close two navies are — Hale Navy against Naval, or against its Sea Mariner match — put them side by side in the color comparison tool. The full Benjamin Moore catalog, including every color named here, lives on the Benjamin Moore color chart. If you are weighing navy for the outside of the house, our guide to the best exterior paint colors covers where a deep navy holds up and where it fades, and the best blue paint colors guide sets Hale Navy against the rest of the blue range.