All three of the military services had a women’s section in World War Two:  The Army had the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service), the Royal Air Force had the WAAFs (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) and the Royal Navy had the ‘Wrens’, as the members of the Women’s Royal Naval Service were known.  Their titles show up an immediate difference between the WRNS and the other service: they were full members of the naval service, not auxiliaries.  There had been a Wrens service briefly in World War One and it had been very successful.  With the threat of war looming ever closer in 1939 it was decided to re-constitute the Wrens as a support service for the Navy.

‘Free a man to go to sea’

Throughout the war this catchphrase was commonly used in recruitment drives and demonstrates one of the main purposes of the Wrens.   In peacetime a large number of billets ashore were filled by the male Navy, and equally ships’ complements were smaller.  The demands of wartime operations required ships’ complements up to one third bigger than peacetime and the primary source of these extra men were the large numbers in shore billets.  However the jobs they were doing still had to be carried out, and it was largely the Wrens who stepped into the vacated positions.

Wrens place in the system

The Wrens were a uniformed service, with both the uniforms themselves and their discipline and management systems modelled on the Navy.  To begin with they were recruited for traditional ‘female’ roles, in catering, domestic services and secretarial positions.   But quickly, as men were taken up for seagoing service, a host of other demands fell on the Wrens’ willing shoulders.  Very quickly an operating system evolved which stood the test of time:  It was naval jobs the Wrens were taking on with a natural reporting line directly to the Navy.  Therefore these women found themselves taking their orders from, and being directly accountable to, male Naval officers.  All other aspects of their lives were run by the WRNS, which was an all-female organisation with an instinctive understanding of what that meant.  

Never at sea

This catchphrase was in common use for the Wrens, and had been true of their service in World War One.  In the second war, things were different and no few specialist Wrens did their work afloat.  The boat crew Wrens were the largest and best-known category of Wrens whose work was on the water, but specialist Coding and Cypher groups sailed across the oceans on large passenger liners adapted as troop carriers.  Smaller groups did survey work and specialist aircraft radio mechanics often flew with their equipment to test it in operating conditions.  Despite a strict ban, a few specialist Wrens even managed day trips in naval submarines.  So wherever there were Wrens, there was essential war work being undertaken in the many roles vacated by male sailors as they went to sea.