Women's Royal Naval Service

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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." (Some sailors used to retort, "Wrens joined up to free a man to go to sea, and I've been looking for her ever since.")

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.

1 Ranks and uniform
2 List of Directors WRNS
3 Fictional treatment
4 Footnotes
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] 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.

1917–1919 ranks	1939–1993 ranks
Officers	Ratings		Commissioned Officers
WRNS rank	WRNS rank	Equivalent RN rank	WRNS rank	Equivalent RN rank
Assistant Principal	Ordinary Wren	Ordinary Seaman	Third Officer	Sub-Lieutenant
Deputy Principal	Wren	Able Seaman	Second Officer	Lieutenant
Principal	Leading Wren	Leading Seaman	First Officer	Lieutenant-Commander
Deputy Divisional Director	Petty Officer Wren	Petty Officer	Chief Officer	Commander
Divisional Director	Chief Wren	Chief Petty Officer	Superintendent	Captain
Deputy Assistant Director			Commandant/Director^[1]	Commodore/Rear-Admiral
Assistant Director			Chief Commandant/Commandant^[2]	Rear-Admiral/Vice-Admiral
Deputy Director
Director

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.

[edit] 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–

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.