It was a dramatic first. The first time in American Naval history that women were assigned to the crew of a ship. On a soggy november 18, 1972, at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in california the uss sanctuary was recommissioned. The first woman admiral elaine dirk gave the commissioning address. The sanctuary is being recommissioned as a new and unusual type of ship with a new mission to assist the navy effort to improve moral and flexibility by home porting combatant ships overseas to provide medical and Resale Services to deploy dependents wherever the fleet may be assigned. In addition to this forward step the sanctuary has been selected as the ship to participate in the Pilot Program which will evaluate the utilization of women for sharp board duty. It will be home for about 80 women, half in the crew and half at the hospital. With these innovations you could see that the sanctuary is truly unique in many respects. The sanctuary is an experiment to see how well women and men can tog