The Yeomanettes
19 MARCH 1917
THE YEOMANETTES
By the Spring of 1917 the “Great War” had been raging in Europe for several years and a yet neutral America was being drawn ever closer to the fray. Noting the gathering war clouds, Congress had approved President Wilson’s request for a “Navy second to none,” appropriating an unprecedented $500 million. The legislation authorized the new construction of 26 battleships and cruisers, 50 destroyers and 83 other vessels. From his office in downtown Washington DC, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels eyed the build-up and wondered from where the crews for all these new ships would come.
Army regulations clearly specified that only “male persons” could be enlisted, but the 1916 Navy Act (possibly through clerical omission) simply stated that “all persons” could be enlisted as necessary to meet the Navy’s needs. Just who originated the idea of recruiting women is still debated, but Daniels jumped at the possibility of solving a major manpower crisis. Eschewing contemporary social morays, on this date he exploited the loophole and authorized the US Navy to begin enlisting women into the rates of Electrician (radio), Yeoman, and other stateside non-combat assignments. Officially tagged the Naval Reserve Yeoman (F) program, it was our Armed Forces’ first recognition of the contribution women could make in any role other than nursing. Two days later, on 21 March, YN(F) Loretta Perfectus Walsh became our first “Yeomanette.”
America entered WWI before three weeks had passed. The slogan “free a man for the front” drove women to enlist for service as clerks, draftsmen, fingerprinters, translators, messengers, attendants, and camouflage designers among other duties. One group manufacturing munitions in Newport, RI, was complemented on their efficiency. Where 175 men had previously produced 5000 primers a week, 340 women now produced 55,000 units–the six-fold increase attributed by Daniels to the women’s ability and devotion. Even after working hours Yeomanettes often pulled extra duty promoting war bonds or staffing recreational facilities. On 12 August 1918, just three months before the armistice, a Marine Corps equally pressed for combat manpower followed suit by opening enlistment to similar duty for women “Marinettes.”
Throughout World War I, nearly 12,000 women honorably served the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. Upon their mustering-out, Josephus Daniels paid an endearing, if inadvertently misspoken tribute, “We will never forget you. As we embrace you in uniform today, we will embrace you without a uniform tomorrow”.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 26 MAR 25
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Ebbert, Jean and Marie-Beth Hall. Crossed Currents: Navy Women from WWI to Tailhook. New York, NY: Brassey’s (US), 1993, pp. 3-21.
Holm, Jeanne. Women in the Military: An Unfinished Revolution. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1992, pp. 9-10.
Millett, Allan R. Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps. New York, NY: Macmillan Pub Co., 1980, pp. 307-08.
Sweetman, Jack. American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 2nd ed. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1991, p. 135.
