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National Memorial Arboretum: WRNS
Images- above - Geograph © Copyright Stephen Craven and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence. Right from WRNS
Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS)
The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First raised in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the beginning of the Second World War, remaining active until integrated into the Royal Navy in 1993. WRNs included cooks, clerks, wireless telegraphists, radar plotters, weapons analysts, range assessors, electricians and air mechanics.
The first Wrens to appear in uniform were enrolled at the Royal Navy Depot, Crystal Palace, in 1918. Most WRNS were given a trade category denoted by blue non-substantive trade badges worn on the right arm.
The symbols and what they represented were -
- Scallop shell - household workers
- Three-spoked wheel - motor drivers
- Arrow crossed by lightning or a lightning flash - signals
- Crossed Keys - storekeepers, porters and messengers
- Crossed quill pens - clerical staff and accounts
- Envelope - post-women and telegraphists
- Crossed hammers - technical workers
- Star Miscellaneous
All of the first Wrens were deployed to shore bases or Royal Naval Air Services stations.
On 10 October 1918, nineteen-year-old Josephine Carr from Cork, became the first Wren to die on active service, when her ship, the RMS Leinster was torpedoed. By the end of WW1 WRNS had 5,500 members, 500 of them officers. About 2000 members of the WRAF had previously served with the WRNS supporting the Royal Naval Air Service and were transferred on the creation of the Royal Air Force.
In 1939 at the beginning of the Second World War, the WRNS was revived 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." It was integrated into the regular Royal Navy in 1993 when women were allowed to serve on board navy vessels as full members of the crew.
In October 1990, during the Gulf War, HMS Brilliant allowed the first women to officially serve on an operational warship.
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. Female sailors are still known by the nicknames "wrens" or Jennies ("Jenny Wrens") in naval slang.
Sources, References and Further Reading
See WIKI Women's Royal Naval Service Information shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License - see Creative Commons Licenses
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