General quarters
Encyclopedia
General Quarters or Battle Stations is an announcement made aboard a naval
warship
to signal the crew to prepare for battle or imminent damage.
When the call to General Quarters (GQ) is made, the crew prepares the ship to join battle. Off-duty or sleeping crewmembers report to their stations and prepare for action. Watertight doors between bulkhead
s are shut and security is increased around sensitive areas such as the bridge and engineering rooms.
While the term 'General Quarters' is used in navies such as the United States Navy
, other navies, such as the Royal Navy
use the term 'Action Stations
'. In French
, the term is Aux postes de combat ("to combat stations"), and used to be branle-bas de combat, literally meaning that sleeping hammock
s should be cleared off the gun deck, rolled, and stowed on the upper deck of the ship as protection against musket
fire. The German Navy
uses the term "Gefechtsstationen", meaning literally "battle stations". In Spanish
the expression is "Zafarrancho de combate" (literally, "prepare stations to combat"). The Dutch Koninklijke Marine use "Gevechtswacht op post!" ("Combatants to stations").
, a drum pattern
called the beat to quarters was played to signal the crew. This involved clearing the main gun deck
(s) by taking all extraneous gear and equipment and stowing it down in the hold. All the cannon
s were primed with gunpowder and loaded with the proper type of ammunition (roundshot, chainshot, barshot, canister shot
/caseshot, or grapeshot
). It was common during times of war for all ships to beat to quarters shortly before dawn, as enemies might be sighted during sunrise. Drum beats were replaced in the 20th Century by klaxons or bells.
General Quarters, or Beating to Quarters, is called whenever the ship or crew may face danger beyond what is necessarily expected of them in a life at sea. Quarters are called during storms, battles, and random sightings in the fog. The general philosophy is that of preparedness. If a ship is to face the danger of the elements and should happen upon an enemy, it is much better to be prepared.
All crew members are assigned their general quarters upon being accepted as a crewmember aboard even a modern naval vessel. When GQ is called, all crewmembers must drop and stow what they are doing and report to the general-quarters station. Then a roll is called and duties are assigned according to the situation requiring the GQ alarm.
The original bell signal for Beating to Quarters was a rapidly rung bell 5 times, at 5 second repeats. Today, the GQ alarm is a rapidly repeating electronic klaxon bell rung in the same or a similar manner. There are different klaxon signals for different conditions. For example, a chemical-warfare signal (requiring the crew to don gas masks) is a high-pitched solid whistle in the United States Navy
, and a klaxon indicates combat stations, battle ensuing. The original "Beat to Quarters" drum signal was a three-second drum roll with two beats in between the rolls, i.e., tap tap roll tap tap roll, etc.
Navy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
warship
Warship
A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...
to signal the crew to prepare for battle or imminent damage.
When the call to General Quarters (GQ) is made, the crew prepares the ship to join battle. Off-duty or sleeping crewmembers report to their stations and prepare for action. Watertight doors between bulkhead
Bulkhead (partition)
A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a ship or within the fuselage of an airplane. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and deckheads.-Etymology:...
s are shut and security is increased around sensitive areas such as the bridge and engineering rooms.
While the term 'General Quarters' is used in navies such as the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, other navies, such as the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
use the term 'Action Stations
Action Stations
Action Stations is the general signal to the personnel of a warship that combat with a hostile attacker is imminent or deemed probable...
'. In French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, the term is Aux postes de combat ("to combat stations"), and used to be branle-bas de combat, literally meaning that sleeping hammock
Hammock
A hammock is a sling made of fabric, rope, or netting, suspended between two points, used for swinging, sleeping, or resting. It normally consists of one or more cloth panels, or a woven network of twine or thin rope stretched with ropes between two firm anchor points such as trees or posts....
s should be cleared off the gun deck, rolled, and stowed on the upper deck of the ship as protection against musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
fire. The German Navy
German Navy
The German Navy is the navy of Germany and is part of the unified Bundeswehr .The German Navy traces its roots back to the Imperial Fleet of the revolutionary era of 1848 – 52 and more directly to the Prussian Navy, which later evolved into the Northern German Federal Navy...
uses the term "Gefechtsstationen", meaning literally "battle stations". In Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
the expression is "Zafarrancho de combate" (literally, "prepare stations to combat"). The Dutch Koninklijke Marine use "Gevechtswacht op post!" ("Combatants to stations").
Call to General Quarters
In modern navies, a call to General Quarters is made over the ship's intercom system. It is a time to pass news and information from higher ranking sailors to lower ranking ones.Beat to quarters
HistoricallyNaval history
Naval history is the area of military history concerning war at sea and the subject is also a sub-discipline of the broad field of maritime history....
, a drum pattern
Drum (communication)
Developed from hollow tree trunks, and used by cultures living in deforested areas, drums served as an early form of long distance communication, and were used during ceremonial and religious functions.-Pressure drum:...
called the beat to quarters was played to signal the crew. This involved clearing the main gun deck
Gun deck
The term gun deck originally referred to a deck aboard a ship that was primarily used for the mounting of cannon to be fired in broadsides. However, on many smaller vessels such as frigates and unrated vessels the upper deck, forecastle and quarterdeck bore all of the cannons but were not referred...
(s) by taking all extraneous gear and equipment and stowing it down in the hold. All the cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
s were primed with gunpowder and loaded with the proper type of ammunition (roundshot, chainshot, barshot, canister shot
Canister shot
Canister shot is a kind of anti-personnel ammunition used in cannons. It was similar to the naval grapeshot, but fired smaller and more numerous balls, which did not have to punch through the wooden hull of a ship...
/caseshot, or grapeshot
Grapeshot
In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of shot that is not a one solid element, but a mass of small metal balls or slugs packed tightly into a canvas bag. It was used both in land and naval warfare. When assembled, the balls resembled a cluster of grapes, hence the name...
). It was common during times of war for all ships to beat to quarters shortly before dawn, as enemies might be sighted during sunrise. Drum beats were replaced in the 20th Century by klaxons or bells.
General Quarters, or Beating to Quarters, is called whenever the ship or crew may face danger beyond what is necessarily expected of them in a life at sea. Quarters are called during storms, battles, and random sightings in the fog. The general philosophy is that of preparedness. If a ship is to face the danger of the elements and should happen upon an enemy, it is much better to be prepared.
All crew members are assigned their general quarters upon being accepted as a crewmember aboard even a modern naval vessel. When GQ is called, all crewmembers must drop and stow what they are doing and report to the general-quarters station. Then a roll is called and duties are assigned according to the situation requiring the GQ alarm.
The original bell signal for Beating to Quarters was a rapidly rung bell 5 times, at 5 second repeats. Today, the GQ alarm is a rapidly repeating electronic klaxon bell rung in the same or a similar manner. There are different klaxon signals for different conditions. For example, a chemical-warfare signal (requiring the crew to don gas masks) is a high-pitched solid whistle in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, and a klaxon indicates combat stations, battle ensuing. The original "Beat to Quarters" drum signal was a three-second drum roll with two beats in between the rolls, i.e., tap tap roll tap tap roll, etc.