Action Stations

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Action Stations is the general signal to the crew of a (British, Commonwealth or similar) warship that combat with a hostile contact is imminent or deemed probable. In the United States Navy the term 'General Quarters' is used instead. The alarm is sometimes used as a preventative measure, for example just before dawn when cruising in hostile waters and the possibility of air or submarine attack is deemed particularly high although no active contacts exist. The term is also used in (British) Royal Navy installations and bases, as well as Royal Air Force airbases and installations.

Aboard ship the alarm is usually given by multiple bells or horns which are sounded in a particular pattern (three short blasts for example). Often the signal is further qualified by a pipe giving specifics. For example, in Canadian service the pattern is ALARM - pipe - ALARM, the pipe being an announcement following a form similar to "Action Stations! Action Stations! All hands to action stations. Action surface starboard. Assume condition Yankee. Close all red openings. Action Stations! Action Stations!" This sequence is given but once and the alarm is silenced thereafter.

The alarm itself is distinguished from a ships readiness state and NBCD condition which refers to the manning of equipment and the closing of openings (both hatches and ventilators) respectively.

When sounded, all crew immediate stow whatever non-essential gear that they have out, take their life belts and action kit, and immediately report to their pre-assigned action station (hence the name). As their crews close up, all weapons systems are made ready to fire on command, the damage control centre is manned, and most watertight doors are shut or sentries placed on those which must remain open to fight the ship efficiently. On ships carrying aircraft, the flight deck is made ready, any alert craft are made ready for launch, fuel lines are purged and hangers secured. On ships with NBCD citadels, these are secured against the outside atmosphere and a positive pressure established.

'Action Stations' is functionally the same as the earlier order 'beat to quarters' common during the age of sail. The change of phrasing simply reflects the changes in technology which replaced signalling by musical instruments, such as drums and bugles, with bells, horns and public address systems beginning from the latter half of the 19th. century.

Use in Drama

The term 'Action Stations' is used in many science fiction series, including the 2003 remake of Battlestar Galactica, and the Wing Commander series of computer games. It is also used in some Star Wars incarnations.

The term is also used in dramatisations of life in the Royal Navy.