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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

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montage of women serving in the Navy

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.

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Significant Dates and Historical Events for Women in the U.S. Navy

Women Trailblazers

Ships Named in Honor of Women

Collections Focused on Women in the U.S. Navy

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A portrait of a woman wearing a World War I uniform, in the far background is a ship firing its guns

Chief Yeoman (F) USNRF - World War I



Photo #: NH 52941 Navy Department, Washington, D.C.

Military and civilian personnel of the Supplies and Accounts office in the Main Navy or Munitions Buildings, circa 1918.



Photo #: NH 96919-KN Commodore Grace M. Hopper, USNR

Commodore Grace M. Hopper, USNR



LTjg Ann Bernatitus, (NC), USN

LTjg Ann Bernatitus, (NC), USN.



NH 95359 WAVES Aviation Metalsmiths

WAVES Aviation Metalsmiths



Rosemary Mariner Pilot

Captain Rosemary Mariner, USN, the first woman to command an operational naval aviation squadron when she led VAQ-34 during Operation Desert Storm.



Photo #: NH 86039 Yeoman (F) Drill Force

Yeoman (F) Drill Force



Photo #: 80-G-1037198 Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee, (NC) USN

Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee, (NC) USN



Photo #: 80-G-297441 Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Harriet Ida Pickens (left) and Ensign Frances Wills

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Harriet Ida Pickens (left) and Ensign Frances Wills, the Navy's first African-American WAVES officers.



Hospital Apprentices (Left to Right: Ruth C. Isaacs, Katherine Horton, Inez Patterson) are the first African-American WAVES to enter the Hospital Corps School at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.

African-American WAVES



WAVES Walking In Front of the NYC Skyline

WAVES Walking In Front of the NYC Skyline



Female U.S. Navy pilot standing in front of an F/A-18A with helmet in hand.

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).


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Published: Thu Mar 07 10:12:30 EST 2019