Women in the U.S. Navy
The first women to serve in the U.S. Navy were nurses, beginning with the “Sacred Twenty” appointed after Congress established the Navy Nurse Corps on 13 May 1908. The first large-scale enlistment of women into the Navy met clerical shortages during World War I, and the second came months before the United States entered World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Public Law 689 creating the Navy’s women reserve program on 30 July 1942, which paved the way for officer and enlisted women to enter the Navy. On 22 February 1974, the Navy designated the first woman as an aviator. On 7 March 1994, the Navy issued the first orders for women to be assigned aboard a combatant ship, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). Today, women serve in every rank from seaman to admiral and in every job from naval aviator to deep-sea diver.
Digital Resources
Significant Dates and Historical Events for Women in the U.S. Navy
- Answering the Call: Civil War to World War II
- New Opportunities, New Achievements: Postwar Years to 1990s
- Leadership in the Modern Navy: 21st Century
- Fifty Years of Women in Naval Aviation
- Twenty-five Years of Women Aboard Combatant Vessels
- Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948
- Z-Gram 116, an all-Navy message from then-Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo Zumwalt Jr., announced the establishment of a task force to "eliminate any disadvantages to women resulting from either legal or attitudinal restrictions".
Women Trailblazers
- The Navy's First Enlisted Women: Patriotic Pioneers
- First African American Female Officers
- Lieutenant Susan Ahn Cuddy, a Korean American who served in the Navy as a member of the WAVES [Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service] and became the first woman gunnery officer.
- Leading by Example: Vice Admiral Raquel Cruz Bono, MC, USN, profile by Denise Krepp, NHHC Director's Action Group
- Thirty Years of Dedicated Service: Captain Kathlene Contres, USN, profile by Denise Krepp, NHHC Director's Action Group
- Agnes Meyer Driscoll—The First Lady of Naval Cryptology, former yeoman (F) and inductee in the National Security Agency’s Cryptologic Hall of Honor
- First Female Flag Officer: Rear Admiral Alene B. Duerk, NC, USN
- Making Dreams Come True
- Navy Women of Courage and Intelligence
- Succeeding to Command: Captain Joan Rhodes Hankey
- Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee, first living woman to be awarded the Navy Cross
- Helping Others Realize Their Dreams: Captain Mery-Angela Sanabria Katson, USN, profile by Denise Krepp, NHHC Director's Action Group
- Captain Rosemary Mariner, one of the first six women to earn their wings as a naval aviator in 1974
- Bernice R. Walters Nordstrom, first female doctor assigned to shipboard duty in the U.S. Navy
- Georgia Clark Sadler, first female officer to serve as an instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy
- M. Elaine Toms, a WAVE, a naval reservist, and the first female nuclear scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory
- Female Asian-American Navy Leaders, Mentors, and Trailblazers, collection of profiles by Denise Krepp, NHHC Director's Action Group
Select Ships Named in Honor of Notable Women
- Dorothea L. Dix (AP-67)
- Elizabeth C. Stanton (AP-69)
- Florence Nightingale (AP-70)
- Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10)
- Higbee (DD-806)
- Hopper (DDG-70)
- Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG-123)
- Mary Sears (T-AGS-65)
- Pocahontas (Screw Steamer)
- Pocahontas (SP-3044)
- Pocahontas (YT-266)
- Roosevelt (DDG-80)
- Susan B. Anthony (AP-72)
- Sacagawea (T-AKE-2)
Collections Focused on Women in the U.S. Navy
- Art exhibit: Women in Uniform
- Photographs: Women in the Navy
Oral Histories
- Captain Ann Bernatitus, Nurse in the Pacific Theater, World War II
- Josie Mabel Brown, Navy nurse during 1918 influenza epidemic
- Lieutenant Dorothy Still Danner, Nurse, POW in the Philippines
- Lieutenant Commander Bobbie Hovis, Nurse in Vietnam
Biographies
- Lieutenant Commander Maria E. Aquino
- Fleet Master Chief April D. Beldo
- Captain Ann Bernatitus, Nurse Corps
- Captain Frances E. Biadasz, USN
- Captain Joy Bright Hancock, served in both World Wars
- Captain Joan R. Hankey
- Esther Voorhees Hasson, first Superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps
- Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee, second Superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps
- Grace Murray Hopper, pioneer in the field of computer science
- Susan Morrisey Livingstone, first woman Secretary of the Navy (acting from Jan.-Feb. 2003)
- Captain Rosemary Mariner, pioneer female aviator
- Commander Bernice R. Walters Nordstrom, Medical Corps of the U.S. Navy
- Lieutenant Elizabeth Reynard, assistant director of the WAVES
- Commander Elaine Toms, WAVES and Naval Reserve
NHHC Museum Resources
National Naval Aviation Museum
From Typewriters to Strike Fighters: Women In Naval Aviation
U.S. Naval Undersea Museum
U.S. Navy Seabee Museum
History of Women in the Seabees and the Civil Engineer Corps
Further Reading
- Elizabeth Reynard, Virginia Gildersleeve, and the Birth of the WAVES, a The Sextant blog post by NHHC writer-editor Wendy Arevalo.
- Establishment of the Navy Nurse Corps, Public Law No. 115, 13 May 1908
- Navy Nurses Behind Enemy Lines in the Philippines
- I Was a Yeoman (F), experience of Mrs. Henry F. Butler, a Yeoman (F) during World War I
- History of Women in the Navy, Navy Department Press Release, 30 July 1942
- Establishment of the Women’s Reserve, Public Law No. 689, H.R. 6807, 30 July 1942 [Chapter 538]
- The Women's Reserve (WAVES), historical overview
- Great Lakes ALWAV Newsletter, April 1, 1943
- First Anniversary of WAVES, letter from President Roosevelt, July 30, 1943
- Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women in the Navy, Z-gram #116, August 7, 1972
- Navy to Begin Assigning Women to Ships, News Release, Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs), October 24, 1978
- Role of Women in the Theater of Operations, from Appendix R, Conduct of the Persian Gulf War: Final Report to Congress, vol. 2. Washington: Department of Defense, 1992
- Women In the U.S. Navy: Historic Documents, History of Women on Navy ships in the Nineteenth Century; Memorandum from Alma R. Lawrence, Operational Archives Branch, for Lt. Morton, R-2511a, Main Navy. 23 Feb. 1951
- Women's Uniforms, Changes made in WAVES Uniform Regulations
- WAVE QUARTERS "D", a living quarters booklet for new WAVES during WWII (Lieutenant Commander Katherine Porter Allen, W, USNR, Officer-in-Charge)
- WAVE QUARTERS "D", a living quarters booklet for new WAVES during WWII (Lieutenant Commander W-V(S), USNR, Officer in Charge)
- Look at you in the United States Navy, 1961 Navy recruiting booklet for enlisted women
- Chart Your Future As A Woman Officer, 1961 Navy recuiting booklet for women officers
- How to serve your country in the WAVES, a WWII information booklet on joining the WAVES
- Women's Reserve, US Naval Reserve Force, 1918
- Women's Uniform Regulations, Yeomen (F), US Naval Reserve Force, 1918
- Women's Winter Uniform Regulations, Yeomen (F), US Naval Reserve Force, 1919
- Uniform Regulations, Women's Reserve, United States Naval Reserve, 1943
Chief Yeoman (F), USNRF, during World War I
Military and civilian personnel of the Supplies and Accounts office in the Main Navy or Munitions Buildings, circa 1918.
Commodore Grace M. Hopper, USNR
LT (j.g.) Ann Bernatitus, (NC), USN.
WAVE Aviation Metalsmiths
Captain Rosemary Mariner, USN, the first woman to command an operational naval aviation squadron when she led VAQ-34 during Operation Desert Storm.
Brave, Bold, and Fearless Firsts: An infographic on the wartime experiences of two women at Iwo Jima and Okinawa
Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee, (NC) USN
Lieutenant (j.g.) Harriet Ida Pickens (left) and Ensign Frances Wills, the Navy's first African-American WAVES officers.
WAVES Walking In Front of the NYC Skyline
Lieutenant Tammie J. Shults, one of the first women to fly Navy tactical aircraft, stands in front of an F/A-18A with Tactical Warfare Squadron VAQ 34, in 1992. (USN photo by Thomas P. Milne, 1992).
