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Second World War
The Navy Ashore  - Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service

The Second World War saw close to 7,000 women in naval service. Founded in 1942, the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS), often called the "Wrens", performed a wide variety non-combatant roles ashore, both in Canada and abroad.

Plotting Room, Naval Service Headquarters, Ottawa
Plotting Room, Naval Service Headquarters, Ottawa

In this 1943 photograph, members of the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS) work in the plotting room at Naval Service Headquarters in Ottawa.

Trained as plotters, Wrens worked as part of the staff in this room, marking the locations of Allied units and the suspected locations of German U-Boats (submarines) on large, wall-mounted maps to produce an overall picture of the war at sea. Allied commanders could then route convoys in an attempt to avoid contact with U-Boats or send forces to attack them.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19870211-146





Commander Dorothy Isherwood Inspecting Wrens, Halifax
WRCNS Uniform, Captain Adelaide Sinclair
Presentation Cigarette Case, Captain Adelaide Sinclair
Uniform, Lieutenant-Commander Eleanor McCallum
WRCNS Acceptance Letter to Eleanor McCallum
HMCS Conestoga
WRCNS Summer Work Dress
Commission, Frances Alley
WRCNS Summer and Winter Uniforms
WRCNS on Parliament Hill, Ottawa
HMCS St. Hyacinthe Sweatshirt
WRCNS Training at HMCS St. Hyacinthe
Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service Pennant, HMCS Stadacona
WRCNS Quarters, Halifax, 1945
Unit Office, Naval Headquarters, Ottawa
Wrens Listening for German Radio Transmissions
Training Certificate, Evangeline Harrold
Plotting Room, Naval Service Headquarters, Ottawa
Combat Simulator Ship Model
Forecastle
First Wrens Going Overseas
Uniform, Leading Wren Lorna Stanger
Jenny Whitehead at Work
Canadian Naval Staff in London on V-E Day