You might notice that the word used was “persons.” Not “men,” not “male citizens,” nor even “males over the age of 18.” That was the loophole Loretta Perfectus Walsh used to become the first woman to join the Navy in 1917 who was not part of the Nurse Corps (which began in 1908). And over the next year, more than 11,000 women followed. To distinguish them from their male counterparts, they were listed as Yeoman (F), and they filled clerical positions, allowing the men who had previously held those jobs to go to war. Much of American society was shocked at the idea of enlisting women, but the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, encouraged female recruitment, directing the Bureau of Navigation to actively seek out women who either had previous clerical experience or who could learn quickly. The Naval Act provided for the expansion of coastal and oceanic defense, as well as the construction of nearly 100 new ships. Ships require crews, shore-side support, food and supplies, paperwork – just to name a few things. In its attempt to successfully (and quickly) put all that into action, the Navy became “awash in its own paperwork, but every man was needed at sea.” In response to the growing dire need for capable workers, the Naval Reserve Act asked “all persons who may be capable of performing special useful services for coastal defense” to join the Naval Reserve Forces. (Photo credit: United States Naval Institute)

Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels actively encouraged the enrollment of women into the Naval Reserves.

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