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00:03It's 100 years since the first pioneering women joined the British Armed Forces.
00:10Today, women serve alongside men, together in combat, on the front line.
00:16If you can do it, and you want to do it, you should be able to.
00:19To see how much things have changed...
00:21Love it! How do I look?
00:23...five well-known faces revisit either their own...
00:26Morning, ma'am. I'm the captain of H.R.S. Bruncher.
00:28Morning, ma'am. How sweet.
00:30...or a family member's military past.
00:32They just got stuck in.
00:35It was exciting. Always intense.
00:39From defending land...
00:43...sea...
00:43I didn't want to go that way.
00:45...and air, these are the extraordinary stories of a century of women at war.
00:57She's one of our best-loved small-screen actresses.
01:01But over 70 years ago, June Brown took on a very different role...
01:05...as a recruit into the Women's Royal Naval Service, known as the Wrens.
01:10I'd want to lie down and have a rest after doing all that, dear.
01:14No, no, fire to fire.
01:16As she relives some of the trials and highlights of being a Wren during the Second World War...
01:21I think I'll dance with you once.
01:23You might have done.
01:25June gets a taste of modern life in the forces, challenging her own views on women's roles in the military.
01:32It's quite cool seeing the captain as a professional.
01:35It would be quite nice to get to that level and be, you know, a proper professional naval officer.
01:39And after taking a turn navigating a warship...
01:43Am I all right steering over here?
01:45Yeah, that's fine.
01:45I don't want to go that way.
01:47June's appreciation of how the Navy has been transformed...
01:51I would have been perfectly capable of doing this when I was young.
01:56...leads to a surprising change of heart.
01:58It's helped me a lot to accept that society has moved on.
02:08In 1985, June Brown took on the role that would make her a TV legend.
02:13Laundrette worker Doc Cotton in EastEnders.
02:17You've got to see a doctor.
02:20I mean, we can't do no more on our own.
02:22No!
02:23You've got to, Nick.
02:27But before June's theatre and television career blossomed, she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service during the last year
02:34of World War II and the year following victory.
02:38I've got some photographs here of when I was in the Wrens.
02:42Which one shall I show you first?
02:45The Wrenery is one side, that side, and the pub is the other.
02:53And you could go out of the back door from the Wrenery into the door of the pub.
02:57Oh, well, this is one of my young men.
03:00I'm hanging on to his right arm.
03:03Well, you never did that, because if they met a rating, they had to salute, you see.
03:07And so you shouldn't, I should have been on the other side.
03:11And you always wore your hand down here, so you were ready to salute.
03:16In 1941, young single women began to be conscripted for roles in the war effort.
03:22Then, as more jobs needed to be filled, all fit and able women, up to the age of 60, were
03:27called up.
03:29They worked in areas like farming, industry, and non-combat military roles in the forces.
03:35But June had her own reasons for choosing to become a Wren.
03:39I knew I'd be called up when I was 18, so I thought to myself,
03:44well, if I volunteer, you know, then I can choose which service I go to.
03:52I didn't fancy the uniform of the wife or the ex, because it wouldn't have suited my complexion.
03:58So, and anyway, the Wrens, well, that was the senior service, you see.
04:04Here is a rather lovely poster of the Wren.
04:08In fact, has she got a beret on?
04:11Because that's what I had.
04:13But you see, really rather smart we were, weren't we?
04:17With a different salute.
04:18That salute.
04:20Not your hand turned round like the army.
04:23No, we were quite special we were.
04:25So, I upped and joined the Wrens.
04:28You released the men to go to war.
04:32And so you were nurses, you worked in the factories, or you went into the forces.
04:39It's very interesting to me what is happening in the services now.
04:44What's happening with the Wrens.
04:46And I want to know the jobs they do.
04:50Because the jobs are going to be a great deal different from the ones we did.
04:55So it'll be very interesting to see how it's changed.
05:00Not that I like change.
05:05The Wrens was founded during World War One.
05:09Following massive troop losses, the War Office allowed uniformed women to take on naval support roles for the first time.
05:17They were disbanded soon after the war.
05:20But when war in Europe broke out once more in 1939, the Wrens were called upon again to help free
05:26a man for the fleet.
05:28June will be comparing her wartime experiences as a Wren with those of women serving now.
05:35And she's anticipating a very different landscape.
05:39I'm off to Portsmouth to a training camp for Wrens.
05:43Well, I think it's a training camp for Wrens.
05:46They aren't called that these days, so I'm told.
05:49And I do believe they might be training with the men.
05:55June's come to HMS Excellent, one of the Navy's oldest training establishments.
06:01She's here to meet Junior Warfare Officer Sian English to share what she remembers of her first weeks with the
06:07Wrens.
06:08So here we have your war records.
06:11So do you remember how long your training was, your basic training?
06:14I thought it was six weeks, but it turned out to be three.
06:17It just seemed an awful long time to me.
06:20Seems like an eternity.
06:22Yes.
06:22Where was your training?
06:24Up in, well, at Loch Lomond, on the banks of Loch Lomond.
06:28It was called Baloch.
06:29So how did you find the training while she was up there?
06:33Well, we did the normal things.
06:34We learned to march.
06:35We learned to salute.
06:36We learned to what's it called when you're all shimmy up to each other and get in line.
06:41I forget what that's called.
06:43And route marches.
06:44Well, I didn't really like those.
06:45I wasn't a very energetic girl, really.
06:49But the thing I really hated was when I had to get up at five o'clock in the morning
06:54and scrub floors.
06:56Or get up at five o'clock in the morning and clean, dirty, filthy, greasy tins.
07:02Very big ones.
07:03I wasn't used to that and I would have gone home, but I had too much pride to put my
07:08tail.
07:09Because I volunteered, you see.
07:11And if you could volunteer when you were 17 and a half, you could leave if you found it too
07:16much for you.
07:17But I didn't.
07:20Are you glad that you stuck it out?
07:22Yes.
07:22It's only three weeks, but as I said, it felt like six.
07:26I'm terrible.
07:29In the century since women first took on roles in the forces, plenty of other new recruits have found their
07:34basic training something of an ordeal.
07:40When I did basic training in 1988, my basic training was six weeks long.
07:46Suddenly I'm there, didn't know anybody.
07:50And it was just full on from the minute you got there until the minute you left.
07:55We did PT.
07:57I wasn't very happy with that.
08:00You're mucking in and you're doing, you know, duties.
08:04So, yeah, it was a shock to the system, but I knew it's something that I had to do.
08:09We did learn how to march because none of us could march.
08:13We were all just plain young girls.
08:16We'd just joined.
08:17We didn't know what we were letting ourselves in for, really.
08:19But it was very good and very exciting.
08:23Beds had to be made so they were so perfect.
08:25We spent hours polishing shoes.
08:27I mean, for a 17-year-old, that was pretty intense.
08:30I mean, we also had a lot of fun, but yeah, it was very intense.
08:38At HMS Excellent, the current training for female recruits couldn't be more different from June's World War II experiences.
08:47But as part of a generation of women who joined up so they could support the men, June's not entirely
08:52comfortable with how much things have changed.
08:56First thing you've got to do is turn it upside down to get all the pressure released.
09:02The Wrens merged with the Navy in 1993 and women are now completely integrated into the service.
09:09They train side by side with the men and are expected to do the same jobs to the same standards.
09:15What we're going to do now is demonstrate what happens when you turn on the hose incorrectly, OK?
09:27Today, communications specialist Anna Fryer is among those on a refresher course learning how to fight fires at sea.
09:34Now, I'm going to ask you why you wanted to join.
09:39I don't believe it's called the Wrens anymore, am I right?
09:42No, it's just the Navy.
09:43It's just the Navy.
09:44Yeah, it's the Navy now.
09:46So I never ever really thought about joining the Navy.
09:48I was at college doing travel and tourism and they came to an opening day and I went and they
09:55said,
09:55oh yeah, you'd be really good.
09:57So I went and did all my tests and no one knew and my family knew until my 18th birthday
10:01and I said, I'm joining the Navy.
10:03And what did they say?
10:05And my mum and dad were a bit shocked but they only gave me like four weeks.
10:08I said, oh no, you're not going to last that long because I like my home convents and stuff.
10:12But 17 years later, I'm still here.
10:15What I want to know, Anna, is what your basic training was like.
10:19I want to know if it was different from mine.
10:21I did eight weeks up in HMS Rally in Torpoint in Cornwall.
10:25You do NMT which is naval military training so you have a rifle and you do rifle drills and shoot
10:33and things like that.
10:34You have to learn all the different slangs like port and starboard is left and right.
10:40And you do obstacle courses, a fitness test.
10:43And you have to do a 2.4 kilometre run.
10:47Oh, true. I wouldn't have passed any of those times if I ran up a hockey field.
10:51I was exhausted at school.
10:52No, we just were tested before we came in, accepted our heart rate and everything.
10:59And then as long as we were reasonably healthy, we were in.
11:03So we did none of that at all.
11:05You seem to have done so much.
11:07You've got two children.
11:08Yes, I have got two children.
11:10You've got a...
11:11A seven-year-old and a three-year-old.
11:13And how do you feel about leaving them behind when you're on your ships?
11:16It's hard, but at the end of the day, you've got a job to do.
11:20And I'm...
11:20Why have you got a job to do?
11:21Because I signed up for 22 years.
11:24You prefer to do a job outside the home.
11:26Well, yeah.
11:26I think nowadays, like, there was...
11:30Females used to stay at home, didn't they?
11:31Yes.
11:32And look after, like, the husbands and the children.
11:34Well, that was a job.
11:35That was a job, yes.
11:36And it's quite a hefty job.
11:36It is an important job, but, like, nowadays, I think that females want to be equal.
11:42But we're not equal, are we?
11:44Years ago, when you first joined up, obviously the wrens supported the males.
11:49Exactly.
11:49But now we are hand in hand.
11:52I don't like the idea of that.
11:54No, you know what I mean.
11:54We're side by side.
11:55We work side by side with each other.
11:57Females can do the same job as what a male can do.
12:01To prove it, Anna shows June the next part of her training,
12:05tackling a blaze aboard ship.
12:07So, what I'd like you to do now is take it off the hooks,
12:10place it on your back, tighten up the straps.
12:14It's so fast.
12:15We have to be.
12:16They only get two minutes to do this in a real instant at the start.
12:20Place the mask, chin first,
12:22balance your face, take a deep breath, and activate the set.
12:25I'd want to lie down and have a rest after doing all that, dear.
12:29Then they'll fight a fire.
12:31Oh, it's so complicated.
12:33They look like darlings.
12:34I'm on the boat.
12:35I'm on the boat.
12:36I'm on the boat.
12:36I'm on the boat.
12:38I'm on the boat.
12:39This is matches your scarf.
12:41Oh, charming.
12:42June's placed in the safe hands of Warrant Officer Kath Wojcik.
12:46So, what happens now?
12:48I'm coming with you.
12:50You're coming with me.
12:51Right.
12:51I'm going to go to the top of the unit.
12:54Next stop, the exercise area where fire simulations take place.
13:02And everything that they've talked about,
13:04they're going to put into practice with a real fire in the units.
13:09So, they have to go down that hatch.
13:13Sure.
13:13Yeah.
13:14They go down.
13:16We'll have a fire.
13:17They close it up to them.
13:19Yeah.
13:21Quite frightening.
13:22It makes it hard though.
13:25What's going to happen now?
13:28Fires on ships spread at lightning speed,
13:30so have to be dealt with very quickly.
13:32They've got eight minutes to get dressed.
13:34It's all their firefighting rig.
13:36Although unheard of in June's day,
13:38all of the Navy's 3,500 female personnel
13:41must train in fire drills like this.
13:44So, they're on their way down now.
13:46Do you see Adam and that will come back up?
13:55After ten minutes of intensive firefighting,
13:58Anna comes up for air.
14:00It's all dark down there and smoky,
14:02and you can see the flames.
14:04Do you actually see flames?
14:05Yeah.
14:06Is it brightening?
14:08No, I mean, because this is a training environment anyway,
14:11you get used to what it's going to be like eventually
14:14you go into a fire on a warship.
14:16So, it's not, it's not brightening.
14:18You're learning all the skills that you need eventually.
14:21When there's a real fire.
14:22Yes.
14:28A hundred years since women officially joined the military,
14:31frontline combat duties are now open to them.
14:35But June remains to be convinced that this is a good thing.
14:39Something that requires a weight and strength.
14:43Some women have got it, but most women haven't.
14:46I just don't know where the femininity has gone.
14:49I think that's what disturbs me.
14:52I like to know that there are men and women,
14:54and they're not equal and all the same.
14:57I wouldn't like to be going down below to fight a fire,
15:03not at all, dear.
15:04I'd be looking for the nearest fire exit.
15:09After completing basic training,
15:11World War II wrens were placed in different categories
15:14according to their skills and experiences.
15:18June became a cinema operator,
15:20playing training films to troops,
15:22detailing what happens during military operations.
15:28Navy veteran Eddie Gaines watched the kind of films
15:31June showed during the war.
15:33He joined up age 18 and worked on landing vessels
15:37used to take troops ashore during battle,
15:39seeing action in Normandy and the Far East.
15:42Oh, Lord, yes, it's 16mm, I think.
15:45Hmm.
15:46It's different looking from what I did
15:48because we had much smaller reels
15:50because our machines wouldn't take something that size.
15:53Yeah.
15:53Let's get it sort of...
15:55Where's it gone?
15:57Oh, it's in a right old mess here.
15:59It's coming to pieces.
16:00I showed these films to train the sailors.
16:04It's good, aren't they?
16:06Yes.
16:06Things like how to survive at sea,
16:09how to survive in the jungle.
16:11I had to sit in my little box with a little window
16:14and throw training films like that.
16:17And then they'd pass me through their tobacco
16:19and their papers and I'd make them ticklers.
16:22Ticklers?
16:23Yeah.
16:23Roll-ups, you see.
16:24So I never watched the films.
16:26I was too busy making them cigarettes.
16:28So they put me in the category of a cinema operator.
16:32So I just showed the films.
16:34I released a sailor to go and fight
16:37and not to waste his time showing other people training films.
16:41And that's how it happened.
16:44Where did you go after your training?
16:46I went to HMS Armadillo,
16:48which was up in Scotland.
16:50Near Danone?
16:51Yes, near Danone.
16:52I did training in Danone.
16:54Did you?
16:55In Combined Operations, yeah.
16:56I used to go dancing in Danone.
16:58I think I danced with you once.
17:00You might have done.
17:02Yeah.
17:03What kind of time did you have there?
17:04Did you enjoy it?
17:05Well, I did enjoy it because we were far away from the war
17:09and we used to go as a group.
17:10We'd climb the mountain behind us
17:13and go down to Loch Egg.
17:15We'd put ten bob in the kitty
17:16and then we'd have boiled egg and toast
17:19and then we'd go and sit in the bar
17:21and have whiskey and chaser
17:23till the money ran out.
17:25Then we went very cheerfully home.
17:27I feel very guilty about it
17:28because other people had a very nasty time in the war.
17:31Well, no, everybody, you had to make,
17:34you had to do what you had to at the time,
17:37but you didn't mean to say you've got to be miserable.
17:40Eddie and June are here to watch a rare surviving example
17:43of the kind of World War II training film June used to show.
17:47The coastline is divided into sectors on the map.
17:51I wonder where they made this film.
17:52The photozo then begins to clear the exit.
17:55Hmm.
17:56Looks a bit like a stud on the beach.
17:58Uh-huh.
18:00Films like these were designed to prepare recruits for combat
18:03and help to standardise training across the military.
18:06The loud hailers are used to give orders to personnel on the beach
18:10which must be kept clear at all times.
18:13It all sounds so easy, doesn't it?
18:15Yeah.
18:18There's no defences at all shown, is there?
18:21I mean, our beaches were mined.
18:23No beach obstacles.
18:24Yeah.
18:26But they could never fully convey the chaos and horror
18:29of a genuine war scenario,
18:32as Eddie was to discover during the real-life drama
18:35of the 1944 D-Day landings.
18:38As you went out of the harbour,
18:41you'd never see another sea like it.
18:44A great armada was coming up the channel,
18:47all heading east,
18:48because the rendezvous point was five miles
18:52due south of Ventnor.
18:54Uh-huh.
18:55And there...
18:56That's the Isle of Wight.
18:57Yes, and the Ventnor.
18:58There, there was a five-mile-wide channel
19:01that had been swept by minesweepers.
19:03Uh-huh, yes.
19:04The 25-mile offshore,
19:06there was...
19:07The ships all split to their respective beaches.
19:10Yeah.
19:11And we had to go to the American beach of Omaha Beach.
19:16Yes.
19:18Tasked with getting American troops onto Omaha Beach,
19:21Eddie witnessed first-hand the terrible losses that took place there.
19:26And, of course, many of the guys were sick seasick.
19:31Exactly.
19:31I think we only had 17 guys, I think, on board us, GIs.
19:36But the idea then was to remove the beach obstacles.
19:40Most of the killing went on, on the beach there.
19:43Yeah.
19:44It was a killing zone.
19:45Yeah.
19:46We dropped our ramp.
19:47A killing zone.
19:49A killing zone.
19:49We dropped the ramp on, uh, bodies.
19:53Yeah.
19:53Yeah.
19:54It was terrible.
19:56In fact, I...
19:59At the time, I used to always think that my whole life was a bonus because I got away with
20:06it.
20:07Yeah.
20:07Yeah.
20:08I was thinking, Eddie, was the part I played in it as a cine-op of any value to the
20:18war effort, do you think?
20:19It was fantastic.
20:20Jobs like that, like you did, released men.
20:25Yes, that was...
20:26Well, like myself, to go and...
20:28Yeah, that was our function, really.
20:30Yes.
20:30To take the place of the men so they could fight.
20:32And it was done well.
20:34Meeting you like this and finding out all the things that you and a great host of ladies, they all
20:44came in and did all their...
20:45All their effort to war effort.
20:48There was nothing compared with what you did.
20:50Every man appreciated the big effort that the women made.
20:56I'm quite sure that we all did.
20:59Talking to Eddie has made me feel quite humble, in a way.
21:05I'm glad that we were able to support them, but what we sent them out to was not very pleasant.
21:15It has affected me quite a lot, quite honestly.
21:18I watched that film and, oh, it seemed so simple, didn't it?
21:23It was all painting by numbers, really.
21:27This is what you do and this is what you do.
21:29But it doesn't happen like that.
21:33Plans go awry.
21:40In World War II, no women in any British forces were directly involved in combat.
21:45So all naval war vessels at the time were exclusively male.
21:50But the Wrens excelled in numerous support roles.
21:54And they were easily identified by their distinctive, highly coveted uniform that June had found so attractive when she first
22:01signed up.
22:03So she's come to the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth to see if an original outfit from
22:09the 1940s still has the same appeal.
22:13This is an example of one of the Second World War uniforms that we've got in the collection.
22:19And this is the sort of thing that would have been worn by most ratings for when they're on parades
22:24and things like that.
22:25But, you know, the Wrens were particularly admired because they did have a sort of more streamlined shape and were
22:32seen to be a little bit more fashionable than some of the other service uniforms.
22:37And on the table here, we've got the handbag.
22:40And so this was something that was introduced after quite a campaign by the Wrens themselves, who hadn't had a
22:47bag at the start of the war.
22:49They had nothing. They were sticking all their lipsticks and everything in their uniform pockets.
22:53Well, there weren't many pockets either, Diana.
22:55No, absolutely.
22:56As far as I know, there was nothing on the skirt, but there were two pockets here. Here we are.
23:02Yes, yeah.
23:04Which are not very deep.
23:06No, absolutely not. So that's why the Wrens were campaigning to get a handbag.
23:12It was amazing they made a fuss like that.
23:14Many girls did choose to purchase a sort of leather version, but this is the cloth version.
23:21Does the zip still work? You need a bit of Vaseline on this time, you know.
23:27I'd have hardly got my cigarettes in that, would I?
23:30As well as the outerwear, Wrens were issued with underwear as well.
23:35And so you got a complete outfit. Some of it was less glamorous than the outer uniform though, and we've
23:42got an example.
23:43All of it was less glamorous. The bra had a deep band and looked like an old lady's, you know,
23:50sort of very stiff and nobody wore that.
23:52And nobody wore these appalling drawers. But I mean, I wouldn't have put those on, maybe.
23:58No.
23:58But they were like that. They were called passion killers.
24:03Absolutely.
24:03What did you call them?
24:04Or blackouts.
24:05Blackouts.
24:06Yeah.
24:06We called them passion killers, which are not very nice. And mine was certainly not any bigger than that. But
24:13they must have been a veil.
24:15No, they came just above the knee, yeah.
24:17Oh, they go right down there, darling, just above my kneecaps. Could wear some recycling shorts nowadays, couldn't you?
24:25The reasons for Wrens wearing the uniform is to develop that group identity. And in wartime as well, it's a
24:32way of showing your patriotic duty by saying that you are doing your bit for the war effort as well,
24:37rather than just in a civilian role too.
24:43By the time June became a uniform recruit, Wrens worked in nearly 200 different roles. They may not have fought
24:50on the front line, but they covered almost every other aspect of naval life.
24:54Including some truly pioneering positions. Alongside traditional responsibilities as cooks and clerics, Wrens became dispatch riders carrying vital messages through
25:06blitz hit cities.
25:09They also maintained and loaded torpedoes and run supplies to warships.
25:16June may have doubts about the impact of her role in the war.
25:21But Wrens like Dorothy Runnickel saw themselves as trailblazers, in jobs previously considered only suitable for men.
25:29Oh, you're a pretty woman.
25:31I was just jolly looking, like you.
25:35I was beautiful, if you don't mind.
25:37You were beautiful.
25:38You were beautiful.
25:42In 1943, aged 18, Dorothy was selected to train as an air radio mechanic, looking after communications equipment for planes
25:50in the Navy's fleet air arm.
25:52They put me on this wonderful course, that they made a two year course into a nine month one.
25:59Here we all are, in this course, in Chelsea, at Chelsea College, and we did this air radio course which
26:08introduced us to radio.
26:09That's because I'd studied physics and maths at school.
26:13Oh, you were clever.
26:14Well, it was a chance.
26:16In those days, not many girls did that, you see.
26:18No, I know.
26:19We were to check and absolutely make good, repair, fit, test, air test.
26:26All the radio equipment.
26:28The equipment for communication.
26:31But when Dorothy took up her first position on the Isle of Man, she encountered some resistance.
26:36I'd reported to the air radio officer, so I said, I'm your air radio mechanic.
26:42He looked at me, he said, what?
26:44He was expecting a man.
26:45Oh, yes.
26:46And I could see the disappointment.
26:47What year was this?
26:491944, by now.
26:50Yes.
26:51And he said, can you type?
26:54I need a secretary.
26:55I said, no, I can't type.
26:58Anyway, he kindly allowed me to do the job by saying, well, you start at once because
27:02we've been waiting for you.
27:04You're late.
27:04Yes.
27:05So eventually he forgave me for that, gave me a bicycle and he said, you go straight
27:08to the air radio office.
27:10The chap who was on duty looked absolutely exhausted and he said to me, oh, thank goodness
27:16someone's come.
27:17He said, I've just got to go and sleep.
27:19He'd had to do two or three duties successively.
27:22So I said, well, what do I do?
27:24He said, oh, well, here's the book.
27:25It's all in there.
27:26Oh.
27:26And so my very first job, it was a night duty.
27:30And so I thought, well, I can do this.
27:32Dorothy, how did it change your life being in the Wrens?
27:36It gave me opportunities to do things that I wouldn't have the chance to do.
27:41We saw women pilots, women mechanics, women doing all sorts of jobs they weren't intended.
27:46I don't imagined I would be doing what I was doing in those years.
27:51But there's still women going into the Navy, doing the jobs that we did.
27:55So we did break through for them.
27:58Many women, like Dorothy, would say their military service, whether in the Navy, Army or the RAF, resulted in extraordinary
28:06personal experiences, which have shaped their entire lives.
28:13It broadens your mind. You stick up for yourself. You start being independent and them sorts of things.
28:20In the three years that I was in the forces, I did everything I wanted. And it was fantastic. I
28:27enjoyed every single minute of it.
28:29I just wanted to make something of myself. I didn't want to just stay at home and say either, just
28:35get a job in a factory. I'd done that. And, you know, I wanted to make something of myself.
28:40I wanted to venture. And I wanted to do different things. And anything that was offered to me, I would
28:46say yes to.
28:47It was a marvellous experience for me. Wonderful. Best thing that ever happened. To be away and to mix with
28:53other girls and be independent.
28:56I had to give orders as a corporal, which I was a bit laid back, but we got through it
29:01anyway.
29:04The service of the Wrens proved vital over the course of World War II. And the same was true of
29:11the female recruits to the Army and the Air Force, demonstrating beyond doubt women's ability to serve their country in
29:17support of the men.
29:21Following the Allied victory in 1945, they were celebrated for their contribution to Britain's defences. And four years later, the
29:30Wrens were made a permanent part of the Navy.
29:36But their ambitions didn't stop there. Over the next decades, as their roles developed, they wanted full equality and the
29:43opportunity to take on combat duties.
29:47In 1990, they were able to go to sea on operations for the very first time. And three years later,
29:54the Wrens were disbanded, as its 4,500 women were fully integrated into the Navy.
30:04Today, women are an essential part of ship's companies. So June's been invited aboard HMS Mersey, moored on the Thames,
30:13to see firsthand how men and women in the Navy now work side by side.
30:19Sub-Lieutenant Fran Howes is one of four women on the mixed crew of this patrol vessel.
30:25So we're in what part? So this is called two-deck. So this is the main corridor that runs through
30:31the ship.
30:31So there you go, if you come in here, this is my cabin.
30:34But there's double bunk, so you can have a visitor. And quite a spacious loo and shower.
30:40And a shower as well. So on Mersey, you'll get the maximum of two people per cabin. So you'll just
30:46have one cabin mate throughout your time on board, and they all have en-suite bathrooms as well.
30:50So actually, it's quite a lot like a university cabin or something like that, you know.
30:55The crew patrol UK waters for at least four weeks at a time, and up to 200 miles into the
31:01Atlantic Ocean.
31:02How many decks are there then?
31:04So there's three decks essentially on board. So this is the bridge. So this is where day to day we
31:11navigate and drive the ship from.
31:13This bit here is where you actually drive the ship.
31:16Uh-huh. So...
31:17The helmsman.
31:18The helmsman.
31:19Was the one who... And now you drive ships. I don't know. Might as well be in a car.
31:27As an agile vessel of the Navy fleet, it's also used to escort foreign warships passing through UK waters.
31:34These are our navigation terminals. From here, you can zoom in and out. And you can see from there, that
31:41dot there, that's where we are.
31:43Uh-huh. And it'll let men you visit the river, aren't you?
31:46Yeah, exactly. So it's called a WECDIS, so Warship Electronic Chart Display Information System.
31:53Yeah, I know.
31:56You confuse me with all these terms.
31:58I know, I'm sorry. I confuse myself sometimes.
32:01In the past, women were primarily recruited to release men for frontline duties. Now they serve alongside them.
32:09Since joining the Navy two years ago, Fran has worked her way up to become a junior warfare officer.
32:16But she'd like to progress even further.
32:19Now this is an offshore patrol boat, isn't it? So what is your life like on it? What do you
32:25do? How do you find it?
32:27On an offshore patrol vessel, we'll go out for sort of two weeks at a time, come back in for
32:32a couple of days, refuel, and then go out for two weeks again.
32:35For me, I'm in the watch rotation, so I do bridge watches. So in 24 hours, I'll be on the
32:42bridge for eight hours. So that could be at four in the morning, it could be at four in the
32:46evening.
32:47Eight hours, three, three eight hours. Are there many romancers on board?
32:52No, definitely not.
32:53Yeah, you see, that's amazing. But it's almost as if you treat them as chaps, and they treat you as
33:00chaps.
33:00Just colleagues, really. We all treat each other, you know. I don't mind if I'm on watch with a male
33:05officer or a female officer. You know, it's just work at the end of the day, really.
33:09That's strange. Doesn't seem to matter anymore, does it?
33:12Yeah, which is nice, I think.
33:13I suppose it is, yeah. How long do you think you'll stay?
33:18It's a career, you know, I joined up for a career. And I like, you know, it's quite cool seeing
33:23the captain as a professional, his life's work, he knows exactly what he's doing.
33:28It would be quite nice to get to that level and be, you know, a proper professional naval officer.
33:33For June, this is a world away from life as a wren in the 1940s.
33:38Drinking pink gin with officers aboard a moored submarine was her only experience of a war vessel.
33:44And even at the height of the war, women and weapons rarely mixed.
33:49What's this, darling?
33:50Oh, this is our 20mm. So this is our 20mm gun.
33:54They'll fit their shoulders in there.
33:57Shoulders? Both shoulders.
33:58Yeah. And then you put your hands on there.
34:00Yeah.
34:01Just on there. And then from there you can, it won't twist now, but you can twist it.
34:06Yeah, what happens with this hand?
34:08That's your squeeze. That will shoot it. It's a trigger.
34:12Oh. It's very complicated.
34:14I know.
34:15And it's a very big gun.
34:20The breakthrough moment when women first served at sea came with the voyage of the frigate HMS Brilliant.
34:28On the 8th of October 1990, the ship set sail with 16 female recruits in its crew.
34:36Lieutenant Commander Kate Welch was one of those pioneering women aboard.
34:42And as June hears her story, she starts to reassess her own views on what a woman's role in the
34:47Navy should be.
34:49I have a photograph there of the original batch, the first batch of girls that joined.
34:55There were 14 girls that joined her in Plymouth Naval Base in October of 1990.
35:01Before we joined the ship, we did a seamanship course, we did firefighting and basic sea survival courses, first aid
35:08training as well, just to give us the basics that we needed.
35:11And we sailed straight into a pretty intensive operational sea training period, which is probably the best thing that could
35:19have happened to us and for us.
35:23It was a landmark moment for the service, which thrust the group into the limelight.
35:28Huge, huge amount of press attention.
35:31Well, because we were.
35:32Because we were the first. We were pioneers, I suppose.
35:35Some were very supportive and other elements were not quite so supportive and didn't think it would necessarily work having
35:43women on board a floating tin can a long way away from home.
35:47I didn't think it was a good idea at all.
35:49But actually, for us involved in it, we weren't there as women, we were there as sailors on our ship
35:55doing our job, part of the whole ship's company.
35:58We felt very strongly about that as well.
36:00So we got quite grumpy when we saw some of these reports of what we were supposedly doing and could
36:06or could not do.
36:07We were there in a professional capacity as part of the ship's company.
36:11We were always going to have two sides.
36:13Yes, you have.
36:14We were always going to have a discussion.
36:15Yes.
36:15How did the men actually react to you coming on as, well, as their equals in some respect?
36:23I think there was probably a degree of scepticism to start off with and probably a little bit of doubt
36:30that we'd be able to do our job and do the whole ship task as well and in that sort
36:36of very alien environment to us.
36:38But I think the operational sea training that we went into early on sorted us out pretty quickly and it
36:45proved, hopefully proved to the majority on board that we were up to the job, we could do it.
36:50Yes.
36:52But before women could serve aboard a ship, there were very practical issues that had to be addressed.
36:57They needed separate sleeping quarters and uniforms had to be redesigned and not all of that was ready when the
37:04ship set sail.
37:05They didn't have the right kit for us, so we ended up wearing men's uniform and struggling to get boots
37:13to fit.
37:13Was it a job you were at all?
37:15It was a bit of a struggle.
37:17So I spent, only spent ten months on board Brilliant, but that included service out in the first Gulf War.
37:23It's learning to not only form your professional role on board, but also how you perform as a member of
37:30the ship's company.
37:31The bathrooms were separate as well, so it just put a little bit of pressure on domestic arrangements on board.
37:36Did you have guards on the door?
37:38No, we just scowled at them, it was fine. It was fine. We wore very long dressing gowns with our
37:43flip flops back and forth between the mess and the showers.
37:48The ship's company quickly adapted to the change, as they had to focus on the mission in hand.
37:54They were heading to the Gulf to join 15,000 other British service men and women who were actively involved
38:00in the Iraq conflict.
38:03What was your port there?
38:05Well, we were just sailing up and down in the northern Persian Gulf.
38:08So we were patrolling out there, supporting the civilian or merchant shipping out there and providing support.
38:13So although it was a war situation, you weren't involved in the war?
38:16We didn't come under direct fire. We occasionally, there was threat of the Scud missile attack, so we'd have to
38:22close the ship down and prepare just in case.
38:25And we exercised all the time, just in case we did come under attack.
38:29So it was in case, isn't it?
38:30Just in case. We've got to be prepared.
38:33It's clear to June that whether serving in the Gulf War or providing aid to disaster hit areas, women are
38:40now an integral part of Britain's naval forces.
38:44And 71 years after her own two years in uniform, she's about to have an opportunity that would have been
38:51impossible for any woman in her day, to steer a Royal Navy vessel.
38:56Morning, ma'am. I'm Oliver Round. I'm the captain of HMS Puncture.
38:59You've called me ma'am. How sweet. I'd rather be ma'am.
39:01Ma'am, yes.
39:02Than be the queen.
39:03That is very true.
39:04Captain Brown's keen to show June what she's been missing.
39:09Why are we swaying? Oh, of course, we're on a boat.
39:12And here we are. It's funny how you have a steering wheel nowadays, isn't it?
39:17Yes. A lot of people are surprised how large it is, considering it's much the same as it always has
39:23been.
39:24So HMS Puncture, obviously, we're one of the smaller ships in the Navy.
39:28There's 14 P2000s and it's open to everyone.
39:32So we've currently got five female captains of the ships who do exactly the same jobs as us.
39:38And obviously, in today's Navy, they're pushing through and we've got commanders of all sorts of ships and all different
39:44backgrounds and experiences.
39:45Yes. But you have no opinion about that, really, because you're young and it just was as it is now,
39:51as it was when you joined.
39:54Yes, very much so. So when you first were in the Navy, it was a completely different environment. Now we've
39:59worked side by side.
40:01Yes.
40:02Like every one of the Royal Navy's 70 plus commissioned ships and submarines, this one has an essential role to
40:09play.
40:10Ultimately, life in the Royal Navy is training for a just in case. And we all hope that we never
40:15actually end up doing our ultimate job.
40:17But a lot is going on at the moment in the world.
40:21Yes. Well, at the moment, we're just we're sending HMS Ocean. We've got the RFAs and a Type 45 heading
40:28over to the Caribbean.
40:29Because obviously, on top of the war fighting, we also do the humanitarian relief. So it's showing that global presence.
40:35Yes.
40:36Today, it's June's job to navigate the River Thames. And it's the ultimate example of just how women's roles across
40:42all the armed forces have changed.
40:45It's quite simple and easy. We'll go around the lock. It's nice and open and clear.
40:48And everyone will be in safe hands whilst you're on the wheel.
40:52Do you want me to?
40:53It would be great to have you do it, say.
40:55I thought you did.
40:56Yeah.
40:56Do you mind, Lieutenant Preacher, if we change places?
41:00No, I don't mind.
41:01So we've got the engines just here, where we can control both of the engines.
41:05So we've got the positions of slower stern and slower head. So that's now having the engines both go in
41:10a different direction.
41:11Which is...
41:12The slower stern is backwards.
41:13Backwards.
41:14Yep. So you can see now the ship's head is turning slowly.
41:18So we'll just let us come left of the boys.
41:21Am I alright steering over here?
41:23Yeah, that sounds fine.
41:23I don't want to go that way.
41:25If you turn the wheels around to the right, just keep coming further round.
41:31In a moment I'm going to have to... I don't think you say straight enough, I think it's to do
41:36with the car.
41:37So steady up.
41:37Steady up.
41:38Yeah.
41:39Once we get to the end, we'll turn all the way round.
41:42Right.
41:42Yeah.
41:43To you too.
41:46When I started this program, I had a certain prejudice against the Navy being one.
41:53That women and men were just the Navy.
41:56I just couldn't see that it could happen.
42:00I've heard looking back that being in the Wrens did enrich my life in a way.
42:06I never really realized it.
42:08I knew there was freedom about it.
42:10And comparing it with today, they also find that it enriches their lives.
42:18These people who are no longer Wrens, who are just part of the Navy.
42:21And I suppose being offered a drive of this offshore patrol boat made me realize that I would have been
42:32perfectly capable of doing this when I was young.
42:38I have changed.
42:41And I have lost a lot of my prejudice.
42:43And I can see that the Navy works very well in its integrated form.
42:50So it's helped me a lot to accept that society has moved on.
42:58And I've had a lovely day today.