WOMEN  IN  THE  NAVY 1945 Approximately 86,000 women on active duty in the naval service, 8,000 officers and   78,000   enlisted,   constituting   18 percent  of  the  total  naval  personnel assigned  to  shore  establishments  in  the continental United States. Accession of women  into  the  Navy  discontinued  by 17 August. SIGNIFICANT   DATES 1811 1862 1908 Navy  surgeon  recommends  nurses  be included  among  personnel  at  Navy hospitals. Civilian  nurses  serve  on  board  the Navy’s  first  hospital  ship,  USS   Red Rover. On   26   July   Captain   Joy   Bright Hancock,  a  former  World  War  I yeomanette,   becomes   director   of   the WAVES.  The  women’s  ranks  decrease to  some  8,800  by  that  time. 1945 On  13  May  U.S.  Navy  Nurse  Corps established.   The   first   20   nurses   (in reality,  the  first  women  in  the  Navy) report   to   Washington,   D.C.,   that October. Army-Navy Nurses Act establishes the Nurse  Corps  as  a  permanent  staff  corps of the Navy. It also authorizes perma- nent  commissioned  rank  for  nurses. 1947 1948 Navy nurses serve aboard the transports USS  Mayflower  and USS  Dolphin. 1913 1917 On  12  June  President  Harry  Truman signs  Public  Law  625,  the  Women’s Armed   Services   Integration   Act, abolishing   the   Women’s   Auxiliary Reserve  and  permitting  women  to  enter the  U.S.  Navy  in  Regular  or  Reserve status. On  19  March  the  Navy  authorizes enlistment   of   women   as   volunteers. Designated  as  Yeomen  (F),  they  un- officially   became   known   as   yeomen- ettes. Women  in  the  Naval  Reserve  recalled along with their male counterparts for duty  during  the  Korean  conflict. 1950 1918 On 11 November when the armistice is signed,  11,275  yeomenettes  are  in  the naval service, with some 300 marinettes in  the  U.S.  Marine  Corps. Navy  women  accepted  for  commission in  the  Medical  Service  Corps. 1952 1953 Navy nurses serve aboard the first ship built as a floating hospital, USS  Relief (AH  1). 1920 1942 Women  in  the  Hospital  Corps  begin serving  on  board  hospital  ships  and transports  carrying  dependents. Navy  nurse  Alene  Duerk,  director  of the  Navy  Nurse  Corps  since  1968, achieves  flag  rank;  she  is  the  first woman  in  Navy  history  to  do  so.  The term WAVES is dropped as an official title. 1972 Naval Reserve Act of 1938 amended 30 July to include the Women’s Auxiliary Reserve,  later  known  as  the  WAVES (women  accepted  for  voluntary  emer- gency service). Wellesley College presi- dent Mildred McAfee, selected to lead the new Women’s Auxiliary Reserve, is sworn  in  as  a  lieutenant  commander  on 3  August. 1973 The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  announces authorization  of  aviation  training  for women. 1943 By  30  July  more  than  27,000  women are   on   active   duty   in   the   Navy. Authorization  is  passed  for  a  woman to   hold   the   rank   of   captain,   and Mildred McAfee is promoted into that rank.  Navy  Hospital  Corps  accepts women enlistees. 1976 1978 U.S.  Naval  Academy  admits  women. The   law   prohibiting   assignment   of women to fill sea duty billets on support and noncombatant ships is amended in October, putting into force the Women in  Ships  Program. 2-29