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 PointNaval 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 together at sea. It is also a symbol of the navys changing view toward women. Where in the navy equal rights means equal opportunity. However women in the navy are not new. Dating back to world war i, navy women have had a long history of proud service. Back in those days they were known as yomanettes and provided valuable assistance. Our secretary of the navy was jose eveus daniels and he didnt cut the corners but a found a practical way to do things and when we found that Civil Service couldnt supply the number of women they wanted in the clerical ratings, he said well is there any reason why they shouldnt be sworn into the Naval Reserve. And his aides look up the law and the legislation and much to their surprise they found that someone had neglected to write in the word male into the legislation and mr. Daniels said bring in the women and that is it. We were accepted because we had certain skills to offer, mostly in the clerical field. And they did expand to communications, cryptology and te telephone operators. 1918 the war ends and women are mustered out. No thought keeping them in service. Not until 20 years later does that thought reappear. 1938, hitler begins the march toward war. Some navy leaders realize that women will be needed again when the conflagration occurs, yet there is opposition. Joy hancock was a Navy Civilian employee at the time. Well those objections came from various fields. First that was very positive occasion came from the congress itself. And i think that was that had its basis in the feeling of chivalry, which the men had. I heard the expression so many times, oh, the women shouldnt be brought into the war. Women are to be protected and so forth and so on. Some of our senior senators were guilty of those remarks. And as far as the navy was concerned, except for the very few older officers, no one seemed to remember that women had already served and that experiment had been carried out in world war i. Very early in the program, there rose a need for some sort of cat chiefing. They tried to say womens reservoir Naval Reserve and the women enroll for this that and the other. And finally among the various suggestions that were given was one by lieutenant elizabeth rainard and given credit for this slogan or acronym because it was it smacked of the navy in itself. Waves. And she based that on the women accepted for volunteer emergency service. And that proved to be a very catchy one for Public Relations purposes and also in recruiting. Calling all women. Calling all women. Join the wave. In seattle, washington, newly trained wave naval auxiliary take over the seattle air station. Were proud of the first assignment and taking turns in manning the control tower. Were only a few of the 5,000 waves already signed up. But the navy said were doing such a good job that they helen mcafee was appointed first director of the wave. She had been the president of wellesley college. In august 1942 she was sworn in by the secretary of the navy frank knox. Practically overnight two major training locations were planned. One in massachusetts and the other at hunter college, new york city. This Training Facility was nicknamed the ss hunter. By the end of the first year, 27,000 women were in Navy Uniforms and more were coming every day. The first birthday for americas waves and the very healthy 1yearold. All across the nation the women sailors celebrate the anniversary and then the candle goes out and the waves second year begins. Oneyearold and already 30,000 officers and enlisted women n. Philadelphia they had a 10 foot, 500 pound battleship cake. Helping cut it, andanceom moore eats the first piece. The commander speaks to the women of america. We hope that many thousands more will join the navy. To volunteer their services as this second year goes by and encouraged by their parents, their husbands, their fiance and friends to do their part to help the navy help the nation to win the war and prepare for peace. And the mighty fleet of the United States navy sails on staunch in freedom and a bigger and better fleet because of americas women marches on as waves. The work women did released men for service with the fleet. They performed jobs ranging from store keeper to hospital corpman. From project engineers to linguists, from Communications Technicians to aviation specialists. They worked diligently and they worked effectively. They did so well in fact they won the praise of even those officers who had initially opposed their entry into the service. Said one of them, late admiral chester nimitz not only are women equally efficient in many of the duties previously performed by men but in certain types of work they proved to be more efficient and psych logically better fitted. The end of the war, more than 86,000 navy women had served with pride. 1950, the korean war recalls servists, male and female and a navy Expansion Program gets underway. A number of navy women jumps from a prewar low of 2,000 to almost 15,000. Schools are opened in san diego, california and bainbridge, maryland, to train women. The incentive of helping the war effort once again prompts thousands of women to join the navy. When the war ends, many women return to civilian life. The navy is limited in what it can offer women who wish to stay on. Housing, promotions, Retirement Benefits all have legal restrictions attached to them. Nevertheless, a nucleus of career minded women remain in service during the 50s and early 60s. In 1969 conditions begin changing for the better. In november of that year president johnson signs legislation removing rank restrictions for women in all of the armed forces including the navy. 1971, the new chief of Naval Operations admiral el mo sum walt wanted to know what it will take to encourage more women to make the navy a career. One result of the meeting is the issua of z gram 116 described as the navys equal right as mendment. Of the better than 50 recommendations made by the study group, well over half are approved and effective. The goal of tozs navy is the full integration of men and women permitted by law. Any separate identity is rapidly disappearing as women enter more and more fields that at one time had been the exclusive preserve of men. Women are now involved in construction, meteorology and space surveillance and air photographer. They are instructors at the Naval Academy and students with nrotc units. They run computers, edit newspapers and handle logistics and fill prescriptions. They have become Commanding Officers throughout the navy. The early 1970s has been significant because of their firsts. Judith in upper became the first woman admitted to the naval Flight Training program. Lawrence pullman was sworn in as the first female chaplain in the navy. Sherry robinson became the first women to complete air Traffic Control officers school. Amy jack was named the navys first woman admiral. Admiral dirks promotion ceremony contained another first. And for the first time women were assigned with men to the crew of a ship. Were going to start out with the press on the sanctuary which is a hospital ship being refurbished to be able to serve a Broader Mission of the dependent support. This ship is well configured from the standpoint of facilities to do that. My view is that if there are women who want to go to sea and undergo the hardships of going to sea, and to serve their country in that capacity, then we could find a way to make it possible for them to do so. We would start out on the larger ships where the facilities problems are easier to handle, carriers and so forth. And the last ships to which they would be assigned would be submarines. It is a pilot study, the ship is very enthusiastic about these people. And this sort of thing i hope will gain a lot of publicity and i hope that he knows he will have problems, just like in a general society, youre going to have a few problems but overall hes very confident this is going to be a most successful and a very happy crew. I think if the crew in this ship would like it to work, i have a feeling that their very positive about it. I also have the feeling that they think it is a good idea and has a lot of merit. Were going to be surrounded by men all of the time. There is like 60 women and 300 or 400 men. They have to know how to get along with them. That is one of the main problems. There are just so many guys around and theyre looking at you to see if you can do the job. There is plenty few that dont like it. But there are a few that do. Let them try it out. People more or less like they, me want to see if it works out or not. You cant tell a woman to work the way you tell a man to. Because actually they cant work as hard as a man. Ive got two or three in my division that so far have outworked any man that i have. As long as you do what your told and do it right, others on the ship cant complain. Im proud to be in the navy. I dont care who is working beside me, a woman or a man, just as long as the job gets done and Everybody Knows what they are doing. That is fantastic. Women in todays navy performed many valuable and necessary functions. There is no area of navy life they cannot participate in if qualified. And they are qualified. Women in todays navy come into the Service Better educated than ever before. And they adjust to navy life more easily as a result. For enlisted women indoctrination takes place at the recruit training command, orlando, florida. Bootcamp. It is eight weeks of hard work, classes, physical education and of course that one staple of a good military education, drilling. Here comes the navy make way for ladies were anchors away Everybody Loves the navy, navy, navy, of the usa. Together we make together were going to make it great and well keep trucking left right, right left sound off 30723072 for we are in the navy recruit marching together whenever were out of step were in the navy we are always happy singing our song for we are in the navy where we belong the hours are long. It sounds at 5 00 a. M. And taps well past 9 00 p. M. And the training is hard. There are no two ways about it. Why do they do it . Well strangely enough womens liberation has little appeal to these young ladies. Most navy women feel liberated before they joined. If anything, what they seek is the structuring Navy Discipline gives to their lives. And then there is graduation. The day when a young recruit becomes a full fledged member of the fleet. The last passing review when friends and family can share in her achievement. From orlando, most will go on to further schooling and then the first duty station. Wherever assigned they are secure in the knowledge that the jobs they do are an important integral part of the navy. They are needed. And that first assignment could take them anywhere in the world where the navy has a base. From japan to athens, greece. From holly lock scotland to washington, d. C. Sue kogan is a navy lawyer. She entered the navy right after law school. Why did i join the navy . Well mainly because i wanted to do something different. I didnt want to join a law firm. I looked around for any job that would be a little different and the navy was my first choice. And i was lucky enough to get accepted. Well, in our office we mainly do research and write opinions in the forms of letters, memorandum to the secretarys office and we answer inquiries from retirees, navy people, congressmen. I think the navy fulfilled most of my expectations. It is interesting. Its exciting. There is a camaraderie in the navy that you dont have on the outside except in a smaller law firm and that i liked. I heard he sang a good song i heard he had a style and so i came to see him listen for a while bailey is assigned to the u. S. Navy band, the first female musician in navy history. In college i was a voice major and piano minor. I stayed in the College Opera workshop and my family had a religious singing group. Ive been singing all of the time. It is nothing new to me. There seemed to be certain feeling that men have about any field theyve had along. And i think they feel theyre masculinity is threatened. In the band i think the guys realized i was there just to do my job the best that i could and they took me for what i was. The band teaches you the discipline you need for just about anything in life. I cant think of any experience you could have in life that you wont have in advance. Softly with your song telling my whole life with his words killing my softly diane kogan is a Plastic Surgeon at the bethesda naval hospital. She joined because she liked what the navy had to offer. She felt the navy would give her some good practical experience. They do a fair amount of Reconstructive Surgery and equal amount of cosmetic surgery and some facial fractures and con genital anomaly. Still working on some of the vietnam casualties and a long time procedure as far as their concerned that many of them have been here for a year in and out of the hospital. In between the times of their reinstructive procedures. I think the people here are something that i dont think youll find anyplace else. Theyre grand to work with and for the five years ive been here have been most enjoyable. Marianne gardner is one of more than 2,600 navy nurses who serve worldwide. She works in an intensive care unit. Like most navy nurses she appreciates the fact that she could move from one duty station to another without any loss in seniority or pay. The work here is not easy. It takes a special devotion to face the crisis situations these courageous nurses must handle. We joined the navy when i was still in school for a couple of reasons. I had never been very far away from home. I wanted to do a little bit of traveling. Some some other places. And plus they help put me through school. I enjoy independence that youre given as far as working pretty much on your own with help if you want it, its there. I enjoy being a navy nurse. I enjoy being part of the Navy Nurse Corp and working together with people who have come from all over the country. You have a sense of belonging. Without doubt the navys most ambitious plans for women have been in the Flight Training program. Six young women have been selected to pave the way for future women in Naval Aviation. They are expected to perform the same as men. They go through the same classes, same drills, same exercises and they fly the same planes. On may 10, 1973, lieutenant judith newspaperer became the first to take off in a t34 from the Naval Aviation field in florida. It is a very good feeling to know that i had actually taken that plane off and back home all on my own. It was definitely a feeling of satisfaction, feeling of having gotten over one hurdle. And i think it helped to sort of build a little confidence, too, that were in a program and we can fly the plane and we are able to cope with the pressures and the rigorous training that were involved in. Our navy strike laws in the fact that individuals are given the chance show what they can do. Black or white, male or female, the opportunity is there. These women proved it. The ladies who wear the navy blue. Were featuring American History tv programs in prime time this week. As a preview of what is available every weekend, on cspan 3. Tonight with many colleges and universities closing campuses, were giving you the opportunity for your own Distance Learning with ah tv lectures in history series. Well feature American History classes from universities in the Atlantic Coast conference including clemson, university of North Carolina chapel hill, wake forest and duke. Seth jacobs from Boston College tips off the night with a class on president Lyndon Johnson and the escalation of the vietnam war. American history tv, tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan 3. American history tv products are now available at the new cspan online store. Go to cspanstore. Org and check out all of the cspan products. Women once played baseball in the negro leagues in the 1950s. American history tv talked with a Penn State University professor about africanamerican women in sports. This interview was recorded at the annual meeting of the american historical association. Amira rose davis is a professor at Penn State University in state college, pennsylvania. Shes also working on a book,