The WRNS: A history of the Women's Royal Naval Service

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The event was organised by Warrant Officer Jen Morton, who joined the Service as a Wren and is now in charge of Writers’ specialist training. She was assisted in hosting the event by a class of trainee Writers.

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. Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent was Commandant, and later Chief Commandant, from 1940 until her death in 1968. She was succeeded by Princess Anne, who held the appointment from 1974 until 1993, when she became Chief Commandant for Women, Royal Navy; she now holds the honorary rank of admiral. The First Lord Admiral invited Dame Katharine Furse to form a Naval organisation for women. In 1917, the Women's Royal Naval Service was formed, and on 29th November, George V approved the formation of the WRNS to support the admiralty when needed. A WRNS rating during the Second World War Two Ordnance Wrens in Liverpool reassemble a section of a pom-pom gun during the Second World War. The Royal Navy mainly viewed female staff as typists and car drivers, but Vera had been recruiting the cream of the crop as Wrens – women such as mathematicians, linguists and sporting stars, some as young as 17. In an interview for Navy News in October 1993, the last Director of the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) Commandant Anne Spencer said: ‘In 1917, when the WRNS were first formed, we weren’t allowed gold lace because the Treasury thought it was wasted on women. It was decreed that gold lace badges and insignia were the prerogative of the men. We’ve got it now though!’ The date of 1 November 1993 was a watershed moment for women then serving, because that was the official date when the WRNS were fully integrated with the rest of the Royal Navy, but it took a long time coming.a b Thomas, Lesley (2004). "Mathews, Dame Elvira Sibyl Maria [Vera] Laughton (1888–1959)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (onlineed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/34937. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) Stuart Mason, Ursula (2011). Britannia's Daughters. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military. p.127. ISBN 978-1-84884-678-4.

Captain Johnnie Walker, a British escort commander, had invented the Buttercup tactic, which involved escort ships moving outside a convoy and firing flares whenever a U-boat was spotted. Told that the range of a U-boat torpedo was about one mile, Jean Laidlaw had a lightbulb moment – convoys were miles across. 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 formed 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.

January 1941

Lieutenant Commander Kay Burbidge made history in 2011 by becoming the Fleet Air Arm’s first female Senior Observer when posted to 829 Naval Air Squadron based at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose in Cornwall, after completing a Flight Commander’s appointment on the Type 23 Frigate HMS Monmouth. She joined the Royal Navy in 1988 as a Wren Air Engineering (Weapons Electrical) Mechanic and was commissioned in 1995. Burbidge returned to command 829 NAS with its Sea King helicopters in 2016. Burbidge said, “Joining up as a non-seagoing, blue-badge-wearing Wren, my recent appointment is a true reflection as to the advances in the opportunities available to females in the Armed Forces today.” A very important first for women occurred in May 2012, when Commander Sarah West was the first female to actually command a major warship, the Type 23 Frigate HMS Portland, and since 2019 women have been eligible to join the Royal Marine Commandos. 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. The battle for convoy ONS 5 in May 1943 was extra stressful for her, as her then-fiancé John Lamb was first lieutenant of the escort destroyer HMS Oribi, tasked with employing Jean Laidlaw and Gilbert Roberts’ tactics.

Actor Andrew Havill, 59 – best-known for roles in The King’s Speech, The Crown and Downton Abbey – who plays Gilbert Roberts in the Sky series, says the Wrens’ work changed the course of the war. 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. 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. U-Boat Wargamers tells the story of the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) who helped take down Germany's fearsome U-boats. The show airs Tuesdays at 9pm on Sky HISTORY.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. Talbot-Booth, E.C. (1943). Ranks and Badges in the Navy, Army, RAF and Auxiliaries (PDF). London: George Philip & Son, Ltd. p.30. Right: Commander Samantha Moore, the first female commander of a naval surface vessel, HMS Dasher and the first female to command a squadron of Royal Navy vessels, the 1st Patrol Boat Squadron