General quarters

{{short description|Announcement made aboard a naval warship}}

{{About||the racehorse|General Quarters (horse)|the wargaming rules|General Quarters (rules)}}

{{hatnote group|

{{redirect|Battle stations||Battlestations (disambiguation){{!}}Battlestations}}

{{redirect|Beat to quarters|the novel by C. S. Forester|The Happy Return}}

{{redirect|Action stations|other uses|Action Stations (disambiguation){{!}}Action Stations}}

}}

File:220516-N-CH260-2074.jpg

File:USS Nimitz (CVN-68) general quarters drill, ca. 2013.oga

{{Listen

|filename=General quarters.ogg

|title=General quarters

|description=A call to general quarters aboard a United States Navy vessel in the 20th century.

|format=Ogg

}}

General quarters, battle stations, or action stations is an announcement made aboard a naval warship to signal that all hands (everyone available) aboard a ship must go to battle stations (the positions they are to assume when the vessel is in combat) as quickly as possible.{{cite book|last1=Cutler|first1=Deborah W. Cutler, Thomas J.|title=Dictionary of naval terms|date=2005|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Md.|isbn=9781591141501|edition=6th}}

According to The Encyclopedia of War, formerly "[i]n naval service, the phrase 'beat to quarters' indicated a particular kind of drum roll that ordered sailors to their posts for a fight where some would load and prepare to fire the ship's guns and others would arm with muskets and ascend the rigging as sharpshooters in preparation for combat."{{Cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of War|last=David|first=Saul|publisher=Dorling Kindersley Ltd|year=2012|isbn=978-1409386643|pages=396}}

Aboard U.S. Navy vessels, the following announcement would be made using the vessel’s public address system (known as the 1MC):

General Quarters, General Quarters. All hands man your battle stations. The route of travel is forward and up to starboard, down and aft to port. Set material condition 'Zebra' throughout the ship. Reason for General Quarters: (Inbound hostile aircraft/Hostile surface contact/etc.)