Beat To Quarters

Beat to Quarters-Clear for Action
By: Bas Bradley

In Nelson’s day when an enemy was sighted the command was given “Beat To Quarters – Clear for Action”.  The ships drummer would start beating a cadence that would tell the crew that action was to commence and to clear away for action. In today’s Navy we have electric bells that ring for the command of “Action Stations”, a sound that reverberates though the whole ship, a horrific sound that would wake the dead and those with any form of sleep sickness, but mean the same thing as the Nelson Command of Beat To Quarters. This command tells the crew to rush to their action station and get the weapons ready for firing.

If you happen to be the Main Guns Crew, you will get the gun ready for firing and wait for the order to load with ammunition that is compatible with the type of target that you will be firing at. If it is surface craft you will be loading with SAP (semi armour piercing) and if it is aircraft you will be firing at it will be HETF (high explosive time fuse) and if is night time you may get the order to load with Star Shell which is used to illuminate the target. While all this is going on, the Gunnery Officer will be getting the information to the “Captain of the Gun” who will give the order to the Gun Layer (who elevates and will fire the weapon) and also the Gun Trainer who will train the gun to the left or right, to zero in on the target. The gunnery officer will be getting the information to zero in on the target from both Radar* and visual sighting. Meantime a supporting group in the main magazine will be sending up more rounds in the lift, to the gun deck as required. Another couple of support group will remove the ammunition from the lift and place in the ready use lockers. The gun loaders of the guns crew will remove the rounds from the ready use lockers as required and will load them into the Gun.

If you happen to be an AA gunner (anti-aircraft), the same operations apply to getting the Guns ready. The loading numbers will install the magazine onto the gun and get ready for firing. The AA Guns are fed from the small arms magazine by support crew.
If you were part of the Depth Charge Crew, your weapons are already loaded in rails and throwers and all you have to do is set the depth to explode on the primers. As the depth charges are fired, new ones are loaded.

*It must be remembered that the Canadian Navy did not have Radar until 1942 and then it was the most primitive type manufactured by Canadian Industry. We later received a much better Radar Set from the Royal Navy in 1943 which made it possible for the Canada Navy to start sinking more enemy craft.  The Canadian Navy sank 28 U-Boats, plus 3 Italian Submarines.

One of our Past Presidents is in the photo below. Can you spot him?