Book Review: From Yeomanettes to Fighter Jets: A Century of Women in the U.S. Navy

by Randy Carol Goguen
Reviewed by Lee Duckworth, HRNM docent

From Yeomanettes to Fighter Jets covers a century of the role of women in the U.S. Navy as author Randy Carol Goguen paints a vivid canvas of their storied advancement. Her book is divided into four phases: 1917-1947 militarization; 1948-1966 marginalization; 1967-1993 transition; and 1994 to present. Goguen’s book goes into great detail surrounding the economic and political conditions, and cultural and technological changes that both plagued and advanced their cause.

The path to progress for Navy women is highlighted by examples of some unlikely leaders with unique personalities and views that bolstered women’s rights over the course of the century. She opens the book in 1917 with Josephus Daniels, the secretary of the navy who acted independently of the secretary of war and others, including senior navy officers. Daniels took advantage of a gap in law (others later do the same) with the Naval Reserve Act of 1916 which didn’t specify sex as defining eligibility to bring women into the navy. Eventually, 11,880 women served as yeoman (F) during WWI and the author details how the exigency of war prevented others from overriding this new policy.

Four Yeoman (F) in the late 1910s (NHHC)

Though openings were advertised for numerous positions, WWI Navy women were assigned mostly administrative duties. The author’s premise is that new technology, such as the typewriter and telephone, opened opportunities for women and, as there were many unknowns as to how this technology would be used, little prejudice against women had developed. Despite the overall satisfaction of the performance of the yeomen (F), they were rapidly discharged at the end of the war.

Goguen’s research reveals that during the inter-war period, only two offices (Bureau of Aeronautics and Office of the Chief of Naval Operations) were “positive” about allowing women in the Navy. As aviation was a “new” industry, there were no preexisting barriers or traditions in that field to break down. A wide variety of billets were opened to women but they (other than nurses) were not allowed to serve outside the continental United States or aboard vessels or combat aircraft. Additional detail and discussion of the WWII era would have provided a more even balance to the book.

Members of the first class of WAVES to graduate from the Aviation Metalsmith School, at the Naval Air Technical Training Center, Norman, Oklahoma, 1943. (NHHC)

The concept of separate spheres for men and women enjoyed a resurgence in the post-WWII era, marginalizing military women for the ensuing three decades. In June 1948 the first peacetime draft was initiated, with a two percent ceiling established for women in the total force. Several factions wanted to retain women in a “reserve status” while others felt a need for regular commissions. Most of the service leaders supported a regular commission for women, though Congress did not. President Harry Truman signed the 1948 Women’s Armed Service Integration Act, which set permanent status for women in regular components in the armed forces, though they were prohibited from going to sea in ships other than transports and hospital ships. Yet, two years later when the Korean War broke out, an active-duty recall was established which included women.

By the mid-1960s, despite much controversy over the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), cultural attitudes toward women in the Navy had changed little since 1917. The author goes into great depth as to how Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Elmo Zumwalt Jr. charted a new course for Navy women by expanding opportunities. As the advent of the telephone in the WWI era provided a viable career path for Navy women, development of the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) specialty did the same in the 1970s.

The final section of her book goes into significant detail of the turmoil of the late 1980s and the initiatives and changes to allow women on combat ships and aircraft. During those strained times, Congress, SecNav, CNO, and presidential influence wavered greatly, depending on who was in office. The Tailhook scandal of 1991 demonstrated a catastrophic failure of leadership, yet finally opened the door for Navy women to go to combat.

Airman Ora Howard, Plane Captain, (left), and Airman Grisselle Martinez, perform a routine maintenance on an A-7 Corsair II aircraft, November 1988. (US Navy)

The author delineates the rapid progress in the 1990s and recognition that successful integration could be achieved in units that possessed an excellent command climate and strong leadership. By the early 2000s, successful integration in aircraft and ships was commonplace and warfare specialties became available to women in nearly every area of the U.S. Navy. The integration of women into the Navy succeeded despite the cultural challenges. Set in motion by the exigency of war, progress in the first half of the twentieth century and scandals in the second half led to eventual qualification for sea-going and combat assignments.

CNO Admiral Lisa Francetti (US Navy)

This well researched and written book is a must-read and belongs in the library of every Navy person—man and woman.

Navy Brings Back the Tiara

By Mark Freeman
HRNM Events Coordinator

Nine years ago, the United States Navy released NAVADMIN 208/15, which, among other uniform changes, discontinued tiaras as of October 1, 2016. Please visit our In Memoriam: The Navy Tiara blog for details. In 2018, the Navy discontinued the female combination cover commonly referred to as the “bucket” cover. On Valentine’s Day of this year, the Navy released NAVADMIN 031/24, which brought back some beloved uniform items and made a big change.

Detail on the Navy tiara of Captain Ruth Moeller, USN (Ret), part of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum collection. (HRNM)

Tiaras in the Navy have always been worn with formal ceremonial wear. Although it was not worn often, the tiara was a beloved piece of regalia that made those events a bit more special to those who chose to wear it. Because it was not a high profile uniform item, the Navy decided to do away with the tiara in 2016. That, however, did not deter Sailors from creating their own versions to wear for events. This time-honored headdress was finally recognized as a beloved uniform item and officially brought back just two months ago.

Homemade Tiara made for BMCS Nicole Serben by HMC Kelly Keilty

Chief tiara (mynavyexchange.com)

The second most popular change with NAVADMIN 031/24 is the return of the female combination cover known as the “bucket” cover. This item was removed from official wear in 2018. The bucket cover not only sets females apart, but is much more comfortable to fit required female hairstyles. Within days of the return of the bucket cover, female Sailors across the globe were trying to find this cover for events.

Bucket covers (Navytimes.com)

The biggest change from NAVADMIN 031/24 set the old school Sailors ablaze. The NAVADMIN states, “The restriction on placing hands in pockets while in uniform is rescinded. Sailors are authorized to have hands in their pockets when doing so does not compromise safety nor prohibit the proper rendering of honors and courtesies.” You read that right! Sailors can now warm their hands in their pockets while they walk, as long as it does not impede the rendering of honors.

Admiral "Bull" Halsey in World War II with his hand in his pocket (NHHC)

Uniform changes in the United States Navy happen yearly, if not multiple times a year, to change with the times. The return of the tiara and bucket cover have been well received throughout the fleet thus far. Allowing Sailors’ hands in their pockets is controversial among the more seasoned Sailors and junior enlisted. Most Sailors were doing this anyway without the rule being enforced, so that seems an easy rule to change. Now male Sailors want beards—maybe we’ll see that change in the next uniform NAVADMIN!

CNO ADM Franchetti with Sailors in San Diego (navy.mil)

Women in the Navy: The Century-Old Question

Just over a century ago, a very important man asked his legal advisors a very simple, yet profound question:

"Is there any law that says a yeoman must be a man?"

Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels. (Naval History and Heritage Command photograph)

The questioner was Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, and, while he might not have been the first person to ask such a question, he was evidently the first to have the power to affect the answer. This factor ultimately resulted on March 19, 1917, in the Naval Reserve becoming the first of any branch of the United States armed forces to allow women to enlist into their ranks.

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By March 1917, with the war in Europe approaching its third year, the realities of modern warfare had forced Germany's leaders to radically change the Mahanian naval strategy they had originally envisioned.  Her commerce raiders and forward-deployed cruisers had been either sunk, captured, or were interned in neutral ports (such as Norfolk, Virginia) earlier in the war.  The Battle of Jutland in May 1916, while far from a victory for the British in a tactical sense, had achieved an important strategic objective by keeping the remaining major German surface combatants in port from then on. Far from the series of decisive naval body blows its leaders expected to mete out before the war's outbreak, Germany's submarines were subjecting Britain's merchant fleet and the Royal Navy instead to a death by a thousand cuts, as it were.  Although they were loath to admit it, even to the British people, the Admiralty in London knew that the strategy was working. Valuable war material was going to the bottom faster than it could be replaced, even with America's tacit assistance.  To win the war at sea, the Americans would have to formally enter the fight.

Thanks to the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare in February and the sub rosa overture to Mexico that had been blasted across the front pages of America's newspapers at the beginning of March, Germany had made the US Navy's official entry into the war inevitable.  Secretary Daniels had studied developments during the conflict closely and had concluded that the Navy was not ready to enter the war with the men and material on hand. Moreover, a strategic vision commensurate with the task at hand was also required. Well ahead of other members of President Woodrow Wilson's cabinet, he realized that, in his words, the Navy's "most important task [would be] to land American soldiers on French soil." A Navy ultimately capable of transporting 2,017,000 American military personnel to Europe across dangerous waters, along with safeguarding the commerce of the allied nations against the submarine threat, would be required.  The Navy had a little over 300 ships during the prelude to the war.  By November 1918, it would exceed 2,000.  How in the world was the Navy to recruit and train enough Sailors to man the ships, much less staff billets ashore?

Yeoman 3rd Class (F) Julia W. Allen, photographed in 1918 in Norfolk, Virginia.  She is wearing her uniform coat-cape turned back on her shoulders to show the Norfolk jacket.  The jacket was not named for the city.  Rather, it was a style that until then had been popular with both hunters and police officers. (Courtesy of Julia Allen-Green/ Naval History and Heritage Command photograph)

That was ultimately the question Secretary Daniels was posing when he inquired as to the legality of enlisting women into the Navy.  The aim was to free up as many men as possible for sea duty.  Daniels might have embraced many populist causes, but in this regard he was not a progressive in any sense that would have been recognized as such, then or now.  

The former North Carolina publisher was derided by some for his lack of military experience, but no one could question his political acumen and his lifelong adherence to social causes benefitting those he saw as the downtrodden, often at the expense of the privileged.  The man who had almost unilaterally banished alcohol from American naval vessels in 1914, despite the protest of senior officers, would with the same disregard of customs and tradition begin the process of allowing women to serve in the Navy.  Biographer Lee A. Craig wrote that his "soft, reedy voice and coastal plain accent ... could easily cause a potential opponent to confuse Daniels's good manners and reserve with an absence of gravitas and thus lead that opponent to underestimate the intelligence and drive, both physical and mental, of the down-home editor." 

Daniels's legal staff pored over naval regulations in order to give him a definitive answer.  Within the Naval Reserve Act of 1916 that established the Naval Coast Defense Reserve, they found that "persons," rather than "males," were specified.  The answer to his question was, in effect, no. 

"Good," responded Daniels.  "Enroll women in the Naval Reserve as yeoman, and we will have the best clerical assistance the country can provide."

Yeoman 3rd Class (F)

Caroline Smith of 

Norfolk Naval Shipyard, 

as featured in the October

1918 Navy Life magazine. 

(Courtesy of the Portsmouth

Naval Shipyard Museum)

Of course, this was only the first of a multitude of questions which followed this watershed decision.

Were women to be limited to clerical duties?  The answer was also no, as women were also to become radio and telephone operators, chemists, pharmacists, draftsmen, and accountants.

Another question followed:  What shall they be paid in comparison to their male counterparts?  To Daniels this was an impertinent question.  "A women who works as well as a man ought to receive the same pay," was his reply.  

When it came to what kind of recruit training they were to receive and what uniforms they were to wear, things got fuzzier.  By the time war was officially declared on April 6, over 200 women had already become yeomen, yet without formalized military training whatsoever, and with only armbands over their civilian clothing denoting them as such.

Although military training would follow on an ad hoc basis for the majority of female enlistees during the war, the process of becoming a female Navy yeoman, including filling out the application forms and passing a physical exam, typically took less than a day. They then began work immediately at duty stations across the nation, often before anyone knew that they had enlisted.

Estelle Kemper, a young recruit from Virginia, actually reported for duty on the same day she enlisted.  "By nightfall," she recalled decades later, "I felt like an old hand.  After dinner I phoned my family in Richmond.  My father answered the phone and I told him proudly that I had joined the Navy.  Never immune to my bombshells, he gulped and said quickly, 'I'll call your mother.'"        

This identification badge belonged to Ruth Adella Ellwood, one of 700 female yeomen and telephone operators who served at Norfolk Naval Shipyard during World War I. Before the war, the shipyard only had one female employee.  (Courtesy of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum)

As for the question of uniforms, Daniels played a role in answering that question as well.  As he recalled it:

Some people thought they ought to wear something like pants.  Some had different ideas.  The length of the skirt, that was a serious problem. Should we have a long skirt that would sweep the decks?  Or something that revealed more leg?  Never in my life have I attempted anything, great or small, without the wise counsel of the women.  We decided on [skirts] about eight inches from the ground.

After a few female Yeomen reported to the ships they had been assigned, their assigners not yet cognizant that they were women, a parenthetical "F" was inserted next to their rate to stem the tide of clerical oversights.  Nevertheless, another term popped up to describe the new enlistees, "yeomenettes."  The term generally stuck, to Daniels's chagrin.

"I never did like this 'ette' business," Daniels said later.  "I always thought if a woman does a job, she ought to have the name of the job."

Although the recruitment of women for naval service was intended as a temporary measure to deal with an unprecedented problem, the impact was by no means temporary to many of the first generation of female Navy enlistees.  Even after the last of approximately 11,274 women who became enlisted Sailors during the war was released from active duty in July 1919, hundreds would continue to work directly for the Navy, even throughout the Second World War, in the civil service.  At least 100 rejoined the Navy on active duty as Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES).  Some of them served as commissioned officers this time around, something that had been denied them during the Great War.

In September 1938, as war began consuming Europe yet again, Daniels told a group of female Navy veterans, "You more than came up to my expectations. I feel it is one of the greatest honors of my life to have been associated with you in the days of emergency and war."

Original photographs and artifacts related to the Yeoman (F) program on display at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

During the century that has transpired since Secretary Daniels posed his question, many others have been posed and answered by naval leaders.  Does a naval aviator have to be a man?  Can women handle the rigors of life on a deployment?  Are men the only people qualified to operate submarines or command a strike group?  These are among the thousands of questions that have also been answered, some only within the past couple of years, with history being made in the process.

--Editor's note: Diane L. Cripps, Curator of History at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum in Portsmouth, Virginia, contributed to this post. 

Artifacts of the Month: Captain Ruth Moeller, MSC, USN

By Joseph Judge
Hampton Roads Naval Museum Curator

In honor of women’s history month the artifacts of the month are personal items from Captain Ruth Moeller, USN.  Capt. Moeller was an educator and administrator who served the Navy for three decades as “an officer and a lady.”

Items on display this month include uniform items that once belonged to Capt. Moeller such as the Navy Tiara (upper left) as well as commemorative coins and personal decorations.  (Photograph by Marta Nelson-Joiner)

Capt. Moeller's personal decorations included the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal (two awards).(Photograph by Marta Nelson-Joiner)

USS Solace (AH-5) in 1943. Solace, the second Navy hospital ship to carry that name, was built in 1927 as the passenger ship SS Iroquois by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, Va. The liner was converted into a hospital ship at the Atlantic Basin Iron Works, Brooklyn, N.Y. In March 1942, Solace was ordered to the South Pacific and in the ensuing months shuttled between New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, Espiritu Santo, the New Hebrides, and the Fiji Islands, caring for fleet casualties and servicemen wounded in the island campaigns. (Official U.S. Navy Photo)

Capt. Moeller was born in 1916 in Nebraska.  In 1939 she was appointed a reserve officer in the Navy Nurse Corps and was called to active duty in March 31, 1942.  The young nurse shipped to the South Pacific aboard the hospital ship USS Solace (AH-5).  During World War II, she also was stationed at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, VA. 

The seal of the Navy Nurse Corps from Capt. Moeller's collection. (Photograph by Marta Nelson-Joiner)

In 1947, after further studies at the Medical College of Virginia and other places, she transferred from the Nurse Corps to the Medical Service Corps.  Congress established the Medical Service Corps as a staff Corps of the Navy engaged in medical support work.  Part of the Corps was the Women’s Specialist Section.


In 1957, she was assigned to the Naval Medical School, Bethesda, as officer in charge of the Physical Therapy Technicians School.  She also assumed additional duty as Assistant to the Director, Medical Service Corps for Women Specialist Officers.

It was under the leadership of Captain Moeller, who had become the Assistant for the Women’s Specialist Section in 1962, that the Navy eliminated the word “Women’s’’ from the section’s title thereby making it the “Medical Specialist Section.” In 1965, men actually joined the section.


President Lyndon B. Johnson signs Public Law 90-130. Captain Ruth Moeller is standing third from the left.  The Nov. 8, 1967, event opened promotions for women to general and flag ranks, lifted ceilings on other ranks and removed the two-percent ceiling on the number of women allowed on active duty. (Courtesy Women's Memorial)

In 1967, Capt. Moeller was one of the women standing beside President Lyndon Johnson when he signed the law opening general and flag ranks to women. The law also removed the 2% ceiling on the number of women in each service branch.

Capt. Moeller retired on September 1, 1969 as an admired clinician and mentor to junior officers and enlisted corpsmen alike. She passed away in 2014 at 98 years of age, and in accordance with her wishes was buried at sea.

Z-Gram 116: The Navy's "Equal Rights Amendment"

In a Google world that returns millions of results per search, finding a single item search result is a rarity.  Entering Zgram 116 without quotation marks gets over 77 million results, including every reference to “gram."  After adding quotation marks, one and only one item comes back.

The 1973 article result poignantly reports “Life Aboard the Navy’s First Coed Ship.” 

Today, the term "Z-gram" is used variously for newsletters and websites and social media usernames.  Even institutions such as the National Military Intelligence Association and the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA) use Zgrams for communication.  The word Z-gram, however, has a specific, significant etymology.  Zgram 116 in particular set in action a poignant transition in the Navy’s history.

The Z-Gram Legacy

The Navy’s Z-gram origin belongs to one of the more iconic Chiefs of Naval Operations (CNO).  In 1970, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt became the youngest CNO in Navy history, during one of its more tumultuous periods.  Late in the Vietnam Conflict era, Adm. Zumwalt faced a dual headed problem:  an aging fleet and equal opportunity tensions.  He considered retention to be the number one issue, and the numbers were reason for concern.

The new CNO institutionalized a cadre of Retention Study Groups (RSGs).  Beginning with a casual gathering of junior aviation officers, RSGs soon promulgated a more formal process which included numerous specialty groups within the Navy and addressed a broad variety of quality of life issues to include race and women inequalities.   Zgrams became his signature method of communicating the results of those RSGs and they transformed policy into action.

The Navy “Equal Rights Amendment”

The Zgrams – 121 in total – addressed a plethora of ongoing topics from haircuts to uniform guidance to radical personnel policy changes.  Zgram 116 was one of the latter category and came to be known as the Navy “Equal Rights Amendment.” 

It incorporated several transformations, including:

·     Command opportunity for women

·      Eliminating separate management of men and women

·     Opening all ratings to enlisted women

·     Suspending restrictions for women succeeding to command ashore

·     Opening the entire staff corps to women

·     Opening the restricted line to women

·     Integration of male and female detailing

·     Opening the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps to women

A Year of Firsts

With Z-gram 116, many career opportunities opened for women.  The Women Officer School (WOS) was disestablished, and Officer Candidate School (OCS) training was integrated to support both men and women.  During that same time period, the Navy had several firsts for women.

Captain Arlene Duerk, Director of the Nurse Corps, was spot promoted, becoming the US Navy's first female admiral.

Source: Navy Live (navylive.dodlive.mil)

Lieutenant Junior Grade Dianna Pohlman became the first female Chaplain in the Navy-as well as the entire Department of Defense. 

Source: Shipscribe.com

Although female crew members had served in medical roles aboard USS Sanctuary (AH-17) since her commissioning in 1945, she was recommissioned on November 18, 1972, after nearly a year in an inactive status, with two female officers and 60 female enlisted personnel assigned to perform in non-medical roles.  Sanctuary, with her newly-integrated crew, returned to service for a three month South American goodwill tour, including a Panama Canal transit.  

Source: The Seabag (Naval Station Norfolk), January 18, 1973, 5.  

Women Aviators

January of 1973, the first female Navy servicemembers were selected for flight training.  Lieutenant Junior Grade Barbara Allen was stationed in Norfolk on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) communications staff.  She was one of six selected and the first to complete her training in 1974.

Unpopular Reform

During his tenure, Adm. Zumwalt was not recognized for his equal opportunity achievements.  In fact, he was highly criticized for his sweeping strategic changes in personnel and warfare policy.  Even President Richard Nixon, who appointed Zumwalt over 33 senior ranking officers, appears to have had his regrets. 

Many years later, however, President Bill Clinton would recognize Zumwalt's forward thinking in the face of challenges by awarding him the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award.  

"I have a long list of friends and a long list of enemies," Zumwalt was fond of saying, "And I'm proud of both lists."

"Ours must be a Navy family that recognizes no artificial barriers of race, color, or religion. There is no black Navy, no white Navy-just one Navy-the United States Navy." 

Z-Gram 66, December 17, 1970. 

This post was written by Commander Colette Grail, USNR