The first really large-scale employment of women as Naval personnel took place to meet the severe clerical shortages of the World War I era. The Naval Reserve Act of 1916 had conspicuously omitted mention of gender as a condition for service, leading to formal permission to begin enlisting women in mid-March 1917, shortly before the United States entered the "Great War". Nearly six hundred Yeomen (Female) were on duty by the end of April 1917, a number that had grown to over eleven thousand in December 1918, shortly after the Armistice.
The Yeomen (F), or "Yeomanettes" as they were popularly known, primarily served in secretarial and clerical positions, though some were translators, draftsmen, fingerprint experts, ship camouflage designers and recruiting agents. Five went to France with Naval hospital units and a modest number of others were stationed in Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaii and the Panama Canal Zone. However, the great majority were assigned duties at Naval installations in the Continental United States, frequently near their homes, processing the great volume of paperwork generated by the war effort.
Yeomen (F), all of whom held enlisted ranks, continued in service during the first months of the post-war Naval reductions. Their numbers declined steadily, reaching just under four thousand by the end of July 1919, when they were all released from active duty. Yeomen (F) were continued on inactive reserve status, receiving modest Retainer Pay, until the end of their four-year enlistments, at which point all women except Navy Nurses disappeared from the uniformed Navy until 1942.
Many honorably discharged Yeomen (F) were appointed to Civil Service positions in the same Navy Yards and Stations where they had served in wartime. Entitled to veterans' preference for Government employment, they provided a strong female presence in the Navy's civilian staff through the decades after World War I. One former Yeoman (F), who had risen in rank to Chief Petty Officer while in uniform and became a Bureau of Aeronautics civilian employee afterwards, was Joy Bright Hancock. During World War II, she became one of the first women Naval officers and, with the rank of Captain, was the director of the WAVES during the late 1940s and early 1950s.
This page features an introduction and special image selection
on the Navy's World War I era Yeomen (F), chosen from the more
comprehensive coverage presented in the following pages:
For textual information on Yeoman (F) uniforms, see the
Naval Historical Center's "Frequently Asked Questions":
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions. |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 53178-KN (Color) Chief Yeoman (F), U.S. Naval Reserve Force, World War I Painting by Anne Fuller Abbott, 1925. This artwork was commissioned by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations for use in an exhibit on Navy uniforms at the Sesquicentennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1926. Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 123KB; 580 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 94945-A Yeoman First Class (F) Joy Bright, USNRF Photographed in February 1918, while serving tn the Office of the Naval Superintendent of Construction, New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey. Courtesy of Captain Joy Bright Hancock, USN (Retired). U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 79KB; 480 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 65337 "His Sister" Cartoon featuring a Navy Yeoman (F), drawn by Charles Donelan of the "Boston Traveler" and published in the Boston Navy Yard newspaper "The Boston Salvo", Volume 1, Number 4, September 1918. Courtesy of Marion F. Walsh Driscoll (Mrs. D.F.), 1968. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 173KB; 575 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 52947 Yeomen (F) At the U.S. Naval Hospital, Mare Island, California, 1918. Collection of Rear Admiral Ammen C. Farenholt, USN(MC). U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 108KB; 600 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 53175 Yeomen (F) Group photograph, with a large U.S. flag, taken at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, 30 October 1918. Some of them are wearing USS Southery hat bands. Other hat bands read "U.S. Navy" and "U.S. Naval Reserve". U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 137KB; 740 x 560 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 52909 Navy Department, Washington, D.C. Military and civilian personnel in a Navy Department office in the Main Navy or Munitions Buildings, in 1918 or early 1919. Many of the women present are Navy Yeomen (F). There are two male Chief Yeomen at the first two rows of desks and typewriters on most desks. Note name tag for "Miss Anderson" in the lower right foreground. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 150KB; 690 x 640 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 44939 Captain George R. Slocum, USN (Retired) With a Yeoman (F) secretary, in his office at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, during the World War I period. Captain Slocum was a retired officer, recalled to active duty during the war, when he served as Commanding Officer of the Yard's Receiving Ship. Donation of Musician First Class J.H. Steen, USN. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 91KB; 740 x 485 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 53165 Yeomen (F) Being inspected by Rear Admiral Victor Blue (left center), Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, on the Washington Monument grounds, Washington, D.C., in 1918. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 95KB; 740 x 575 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 53171 Navy Yeomen (F) In New York City where they assisted in Navy recruiting and in putting the Victory Loan drive "over the top", 8 May 1919. These "Yeomanettes" were stationed in Washington, D.C. Note advertising structure built to resemble a battleship's superstructure. In addition to its recruiting and Victory Loan signs, it features copies of the two Howard Chandler Christy recruiting posters: "I Want You for the Navy" and "Gee!! I Wish I Were a Man". U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 87KB; 545 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 53168 Yeomen (F) Surround a bemused sailor, while being entertained by the League of Catholic Women at the Cardinal Farley Club, New York City. 250 of these Navy women, who had done excellent work at Washington, D.C., went to New York to aid in putting over the Victory Loan drive, 8 May 1919. Note shoulder patch worn by the Yeoman (F) in the left center foreground: an anchor with the initials "Y" and "B". U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 126KB; 740 x 590 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 97239 Rear Admiral Joseph L. Jayne, USN, Commandant, Twelfth Naval District Bidding "adieu" to some of the "Yeomanettes" who served in Twelfth Naval District offices in San Francisco, California, during and shortly after the First World War. Photographed circa mid-1919. Halftone photograph, copied from the publication "The Compass", published by USS Boston, the Receiving Ship at Yerba Buena Naval Training Station, San Francisco, California, 1919. Note recruiting poster "Join the Navy and Naval Reserve" on the wall behind RAdm. Jayne. Collection of Ora Hirsch Merritt, 1968. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 118KB; 595 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: 80-G-44492 Lieutenant Commander Joy Bright Hancock, USNR (left) and Lieutenant Eunice Whyte, USNR Photographed circa 1943. Both had served in the First World War as Yeoman (F) and were the only World War II WAVES eligible to wear the World War I Victory Ribbon. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 620 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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This page features an introduction and special image selection
on the Navy's World War I era Yeomen (F), chosen from the more
comprehensive coverage presented in the following pages:
NOTES:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions. |
Page updated and new photo added 20 April 2000
Coding updated 10 May 2009