Women's Royal Naval Service - Americola, the celebrity encyclopedia 
Women's Royal Naval Service
[edit] Americola's celebrity biographies are provided by AmericolaWiki, a celebrity wiki. You can help contribute to Americola and edit this article.
The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as Wrens) was the women's branch of the Royal Navy.
Members included cooks, clerks, wireless telegraphists, and electricians. It was formed in 1917 during the First World War, and by the end of the war had 5,500 members, 500 of them officers. It was disbanded in 1919.
It was revived in 1939 at the beginning the
Second World War, with an expanded list of allowable activities, including flying transport planes. At its peak in 1944 it had 75,000 people. During the war there were 100 deaths. One of the
slogans used in recruiting posters was "Join the Wrens -- free a man for the fleet."
It remained in existence after the war and was finally integrated into the regular Royal Navy in 1993.
Before 1993, all women in the Royal Navy were members of the WRNS except nurses, who joined (and still join) Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service, and medical and dental officers, who were commissioned directly into the Royal Navy, held RN ranks, and wore WRNS uniform with gold RN insignia.
Contents
- 1 Ranks and uniform
- 2 List of Directors WRNS
- 3 Fictional treatment
- 4 Footnotes
- 5 See also
- 6 External links
|
Ranks and uniform
The WRNS had its own ranking system. Unlike the other two women's services, which adopted the same ranks as the men after World War II, the WRNS retained this separate system until amalgamation into the Royal Navy in 1993.
Ratings' titles were suffixed with their trade (e.g. Leading Wren Cook, Chief Wren Telegraphist).
Wrens wore the same rank insignia as their male equivalents, but in blue instead of gold. The "curls" atop officers' rank stripes were diamond-shaped instead of circular.
Wren uniform consisted of a double-breasted jacket and skirt, with shirt and tie, for all ranks (although similar working dress to the men could also be worn). Junior Ratings wore hats similar to those of their male counterparts (although with a more sloping top). Senior Ratings (Petty Officers and above) and officers wore tricorne hats with a white cover. All insignia, including cap badges and non-substantive (trade) badges, was blue.
List of Directors WRNS
- Dame Katharine Furse, 1917–1919
- Dame Vera Laughton Mathews, 1939–1946
- Dame Jocelyn Woollcombe, 1946–1950
- Commandant Dame Mary Lloyd, 1950–1954
- Commandant Dame Nancy Robertson, 1954–1958
- Commandant Dame Elizabeth Hoyer-Millar, 1958–1960
- Commandant Dame Jean Davies, 1960–1964
- Commandant Dame Margaret Drummond, 1964–1966
- Commandant Dame Marion Kettlewell, 1966–1970
- Commandant Daphne Blundell, 1970–1973
- Commandant Mary Talbot, 1973–1976
- Commandant Vonla McBride, 1976–1979
- Commandant Elizabeth Craig-McFeely, 1979–1982
- Commandant Patricia Swallow, 1982–1985
- Commandant Marjorie Fletcher, 1985–
Fictional treatment
A woman in the service was the subject of a Neville Shute novel, Requiem for a Wren (1955), also published under the title The Breaking Wave.
Footnotes
- ^
Until 1951, Director was both a position and a rank. In 1951, the rank of Commandant was introduced for the officer holding the position of Director. The rank originally equated to Rear-Admiral, but was later reduced to Commodore.
- ^ Honorary rank held by a member of the Royal Family. Until 1951, the position was called Commandant, but was renamed in that year due to the introduction of Commandant as the rank for the Director WRNS. It equated to either Rear-Admiral or Vice-Admiral. It remains as the position of Chief Commandant for Women, Royal Navy, currently held by the Princess Royal with the rank of Vice-Admiral.
See also
