During peace turns, NWOL prints position reports that show ships on their stations, but it must be understood by the players that they are rotating back and forth to their base during the season. This is true only if ships are not stationed at their base. If ships are at their base, then they are there no matter what.
When a campaign begins, and we switch to campaign turns, ships go back to being in one place. If ships are at their base port, then they are placed there. If not, they may be placed on station or at base. If a navy has (say) 20 ships in (say) the North Sea, then when campaign turns begin, some of those ships will be in the North Sea and some will be at their base. The number that will be on station depends on how far it is between the base and the station. The chance of being on station is 95% minus the number of sea areas between the station and the base port. If the station is in the Caribbean and the base is in the Atlantic, or the reverse, then add 3 to the distance for the crossing. If a ship is based at a port, add one to the distance to cross the sea area to reach the port.
Example: 20 British ships in the North Sea, based in London, are in the same sea area as their base. When campaigns begin, they have a 95% chance to be on station (in the North Sea) and 5% to be at base (in London harbor).
Example: 20 Russian ships in the North Sea, based in St. Petersburg, are 3 seas away from their base. (Their base is on the Gulf of Finland: Baltic Sea, Skagerrak, North Sea is a distance of three sea areas.) They have an 80% chance to be on station (in the North Sea) and a 20% chance to be at base (St. Petersburg harbor).
Example: 20 British ships at Brest on blockade duty, based at London. London is on the North Sea; one sea area to the English Channel plus one to reach the port of Brest. 85% chance to be on station at Brest, 15% chance to be at base. (If the ships were based at Portsmouth instead of London, then it would be 90% chance to be on station because Portsmouth is on the English Channel.)
Example: 20 British ships based at Portsmouth are on station in the Northern Caribbean. One sea area from NOC to SWA, three for the Atlantic, two more for Ushant and ECH, total of six. 65% chance to be on station, 35% chance to be at base.
The worst case in the game is Russian ships based at St. Petersburg on station at Gulf of Mexico (or Gulf of Honduras). Five sea areas to the Atlantic, three to the Atlantic, four to GOM/GOH, total distance of 12 sea areas. 35% chance to be on station, 65% to be at base.
Ships that start at base will have 32 stores. Ships that start on station will have between 5 and 32, determined randomly; the farther from base, the lower they will tend to be.