General quarters
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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 as quickly as possible.[1]
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."[2]
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 direction of travel is up and forward on your starboard side, down and aft on your port side.”