![]() The act declared that the reserve force within the U.S. As in previous wars, women were prohibited from joining the Navy and other Regular armed services.īut the act's vague language relating to the reserve forces did not prohibit women. How were these new ships going to be manned? The answer lay in the unassuming language of the Naval Act of 1916, which unintentionally opened the door to women volunteering in the U.S. The number of ships increased from three hundred to a thousand. Even with increase of manpower, the Navy remained shorthanded. ![]() The call to arms went out, and hundreds of thousands of men volunteered for or were drafted into military service. Because Germany refused to stop sinking American shipping and Great Britain increased pressure for American intervention, the United States entered the war. In April 1917, the month's total had risen to 900,000 tons, several thousand of them American. When unrestricted submarine war began in January 1917, the German navy sank 540,000 tons of shipping in the first month. The submarine, introduced to world navies around 1900, evolved from a coastal-bound vessel to a terror on the open seas. Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare propelled the United States from neutrality to war. It introduced new weapons like the machine gun, airplanes, tanks, battleships, and submarines. World War I was the first industrial war. Some women had to dress like men to fight in the field, and others risked their lives as frontline nurses, but these brave women were not recognized by the military.Īt the turn of the 20th century, the progressive social movements advocated women's rights, but it took the first global war to give women the opportunity to prove themselves. Until World War I, however, the military establishment did not officially accommodate women who wished to serve. Women in today's military answer their country's call in all services and ranks. I've hobnobbed oft with Broadway stars who outshone Broadway lights īut North or South or East or West, the girls that I have metĬould never hold a candle to a Newport yeomanette. I've seen the Latin Quarter, with its models, wines, and tights, I've been in noisy London and in wicked, gay Paree, ![]() I've been in frigid Greenland and in sunny Tennessee, A yeoman (F) on Submarine K-5 gazes through her binoculars. ![]()
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