Review: The Navy’s First Enlisted Women: Patriotic Pioneers

That women served in every military conflict in the history of the United States is common knowledge—but that women performed duties other than nursing during the First World War may come as a surprise to some. Regina Akers, a historian with the Naval History and Heritage Command, describes the service of the more than eleven thousand women that enlisted in the Naval Costal Defense Reserve during the Great War in The Navy’s First Enlisted Women: Patriotic Pioneers. She also details the meaning of their contributions to the war effort both at home and overseas. By working as clerks, typists, stenographers, translators, cryptologists, messengers, and even designers of camouflage for ships, these women volunteers freed up men for sea duty and combat.