Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service

The Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS or "Wrens") was an element of the Royal Canadian Navy that was active during the Second World War and post-war as part of the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve until unification in 1968.[1] The WRCNS was in operation from October 1942 to August 1946.

Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS)
Commander Adelaide Sinclair was Director of the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service in 1944
Active	1942–1946 1951–1968
Disbanded	August 1946 February 1968
Country	Canada
Allegiance	Canada
Branch	Royal Canadian Navy
Role	Operational support, Various duties
March	The Wren's March

History

The WRCNS was modelled on the Women's Royal Naval Service, which had been active during the First World War and then revived in 1939. The Royal Canadian Navy was slow to create a women's service, only establishing the WRCNS in July 1942, nearly a year after the Canadian Women's Army Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division.[2] By the end of the war however nearly 7,000 women had served with the WRCNS in 39 trades.[3]

The ByTown II, later renamed HMCS Conestoga ("The Stone Frigate"), was the WRCNS training centre in Galt, Ontario, and became the first female-commanded Canadian commissioned "ship" in June 1943 when Lieutenant Commander Isabel Macneill was appointed commanding officer.[4] That September Commander Adelaide Sinclair became the first Canadian Director of the WRCNS, a position she held until disbandment.[5]

The WRCNS was disbanded in July 1946, but revived as part of the Naval Reserve at the beginning of the Korean War. It was disbanded a second time in 1968 when the Royal Canadian Navy as a whole was folded into the unified Canadian Forces.[1]

A Historic Sites and Monuments' board of Canada plaque in Halifax describes the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service:

Women's service in the military during the Second World War challenge the tradition of all-male armed forces. Between 1942 and 1946 close to 7000 volunteers enlisted in the WRCNS and served in 26 non-combatant occupations in Canadian naval bases at home or abroad. By late 1943, nearly 1000 Wrens worked in the Halifax area and lived in HMCS Stadacona, within sight of this spot. The WRCNS made an outstanding contribution to Allied victory, paved the way for future generations of Canadian service women and raised questions about the equality of women in the civilian world.

Ranks

NATO code	OF-10		OF-9		OF-8		OF-7		OF-6		OF-5		OF-4		OF-3		OF-2		OF-1						OF(D)						Student officer
Canada	No equivalent								N/A																No equivalent
							Rear-Admiral Contre-amiral		Commodore Commodore		Captain Capitaine		Commander Commander		Lieutenant-Commander Lieutenant-commander		Lieutenant Lieutenant		Sub-Lieutenant Sous-lieutenant			Acting Sub-Lieutenant Sous-lieutenant intérimaire

NATO Code	OR-9						OR-8		OR-7		OR-6						OR-5						OR-4				OR-3		OR-2						OR-1
Canada	N/A						N/A		N/A		N/A						No equivalent
	N/A						N/A		N/A		N/A						No equivalent						N/A				N/A		N/A
	Chief Petty Officer 1st class Premier maître de 1re classe						Chief Petty Officer 2nd class Premier maître de 2e classe		Petty Officer 1st class Maître de 1re classe		Petty Officer 2nd class Maître de 2e classe												Leading Seaman Matelot de 1re classe				Able Seaman Matelot de 2e classe		Ordinary Seaman Matelot de 3e classe

Wargaming

One of the departments was in charge of teaching ASW tactics to the captains of the vessels escorting convoys across the Atlantic. Carol Duffus (née Hendry), explained in an interview how the wargame was facilitated and debriefed by the training commander.[6]

• 
  A journalist (left) interviewing a woman in uniform (right) from the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service, 1943
• 
  Wrens plaque at the Maritime Command Museum

See also

• Canadian Women's Army Corps
• Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division
• Women's Royal Australian Naval Service
• Adelaide Sinclair
• SPARS (the United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve)
• United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve
• Women in the United States Navy
• Women's Royal Naval Service (British)

References

Notes

1. http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/womens_royal_canadian_naval_service_wrcns.html
2. http://www.navalandmilitarymuseum.org/resource_pages/pavingtheway/wrcns.html
3. Government of Canada, Department of National Defence; Government of Canada, National Defence. "Serving Their Country: the Story of the Wrens, 1942-1946". www.journal.forces.gc.ca.
4. Library and Archives Canada Sheetmusic from Canada's past AMICUS No. 22123872
5. WRCNS at CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum Retrieved December 10, 2013
6. "Veteran Stories: Carol Elizabeth Duffus (née Hendry)". The Memory Project. 2018. Retrieved 2018-06-18.

External links

• Women's Royal Canadian Navy Legacy Project
• The Wrens
• Canadian Armed Forces – Historical milestones of women Fact Sheet—National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces