page_title: Royal Navy ranks, rates, and uniforms of the 18th and 19th centuries
section_title: Quarters and stations
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Navy ranks, rates, and uniforms of the 18th and 19th centuries / Watch organization / Quarters and stations
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: 1776: James Cook English: Official portrait of Captain James Cook Suomi: Kapteeni James Cookin virallinen muotokuva. National Maritime Museum, Yhdistynyt kuningaskunta. Français&#160;: James Cook par Nathaniel Dance. Italiano: Ritratto di James Cook 日本語: クックの公式肖像画　海軍博物館（ロンドン）所蔵 Nederlands: James Cook na zijn terugkeer van zijn tweede expeditie in de Stille Zuidzee Polski: Kapitan James Cook Català: Retrat de l'explorador britànic James Cook Lietuvių: Džeimso Kuko portretas 中文: 庫克船長畫像。現存於英國海事博物館。 Русский: Портрет Дж. Кука, 25 май 1776 года. Художник Натаниэл Дэнс Gagana Samoa: Ata o James Cook, 25 Me, 1776. (le tusiata o Nathaniel Dance) Čeština: Kapitán James Cook, 25. května 1776. (oficiální portrét) Español: Retrato oficial de James Cook
context_page_description: Royal Navy ranks, rates, and uniforms of the 18th and 19th centuries were the original effort of the Royal Navy to create standardized rank and insignia system for use both at shore and at sea.
context_section_description: In addition to the standard watch organisation of a Royal Navy vessel, additional organisational hierarchies included the division, headed by a lieutenant or midshipman, mainly to muster as well as mess and berthing; divisions were typically present only on the larger rated vessels.
  The term "Action Stations" was a battle condition in which a Royal Navy vessel manned all of its guns with gun crews, stood up damage control and emergency medical teams, and called the ship's senior officers to the quarterdeck in order to direct the ship in battle. A sailor's action station was independent of their watch station or division, although in many cases groups of sailors manning the same action station were assigned from the same division or watch section.
  A unique readiness condition of some Royal Navy vessels was known as "in ordinary". Such vessels were usually permanently moored with masts and sails removed and manned only by a skeleton crew. In ordinary vessels did not maintain full watch sections and were normally maintained as receiving ships, shore barges, or prison ships.
caption: James Cook wearing a 1770s era Royal Navy captain's uniform
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