WW II-era ships throughout the war were issued alerts of different kinds according to their usage and status. A ship that was in battle was considered to be in danger and would therefore be informed of this in two ways: she would be notified by the radio beacon at her bow that she was in danger and she would be issued a “battle alert” from her shipmates.
Perhaps two dozen per ship, with a few that would alert throughout the ship. On a typical Japanese battleship during World War 2, 235 alert statuses could be found on the ship at all times.
Random: 8.5 million.
A few hundred at most
The number of alerts on a ship is not a measure of how ready it is for battle; it is a measure of how bad the battle is.
The alerts on a battleship were random: the ship’s radar would pick up a target and the captain would decide if that target was worth alerting the crew for. Once the crew was alerted, they would go to their battle stations–which were random locations throughout the ship. This meant that the crew was never truly ready for battle. The alerts could be removed in an instant, but it would take hours to get everyone back to their original stations.
The alerts of World War 2 were significant, but they were not enough to keep the fighting going. The alerts were also tough on the men, who were required to go to battle with a very small and basic amount of information. The alerts also didn’t help the soldiers much, as they were never a sure thing. The alerts had a bigger impact on the soldiers’ morale than anything else.
The number of alerts on a ship is not a measure of how ready it is for battle; it is a measure of how bad the battle is. Random alerts on a ship mean that at any given moment, a small number of the crew are called to action stations. These alerts are issued by the same system that notifies a crew when they are in danger: the ship’s radio beacon. In the best-case scenario, the crew is alerted by the radio beacon, heads to their action station, and the alert is over.
The alerts on a ship are not a measure of how ready it is for battle; they are a measure of how bad the battle is. A random number of 8.5 million alerts on a battleship during World War II would have been enough to ensure the crew was adequately informed of the status of the ship and the battle. A few hundred at most would have sufficed to ensure the crew was adequately informed of the status of the ship and the battle. This is a small portion of the alerts that would have been present on any given warship.
The alerts were not simply for purposes of informing the crew of their danger; they were also used for purposes of motivating the crew. The most popular alert on a Japanese ship was the battle alert, and upon being issued, it was common for the crew to stay in their bunks for a few hours to ensure that they were fully rested for their impending battle. The second-most popular alert was the general alert, which was issued when the ship was in desperate need of maintenance but not yet in danger of being so. The third-most popular alert was the general quarters alert, which was issued when the crew was needed for some general purpose but not for battle.
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