Sanctuary (AH 17) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 17 text:

DOING ON lVlY SHIP? Who knows . . . maybe ten years from now Women of the Navy will be saying, What's this man doing on my ship? Smile Boats.

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WHAT'S THIS WOMAN BIVII J. D. Walker meet SN Anneliese Knapp. You see . . . ah . . . Boats, Anneliese is one of sixty or so Enlisted Women assigned to SANCTUARY as part of a pilot program aimed at bringing greater equality for women in the Navy. The program was outlined in Z-Gram 116, and our ship, mainly because of its non-combatant mission, was chosen to to test the feasibility of the idea.

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Z-GRAM 116 EOUAL RIGHTS 8: OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN Z-gram 116 announced the establishment of a task force to check the laws, regulations and policies that will have to be changed to eliminate inequities and open up opportunities as they relate to women in the Navy, the changes that would follow enactment of the Equal Rights Amendment lwhich has now been ratified by 20 of the required 38 statesl, CNO specified some of the first steps that could now be taken and others that would require changes in current laws and Navy regulations regarding women. A pilot program is now being established which provides for the assignment of officer and enlisted women to serve aboard the hospital ship USS SANCTUARY in order to gather planning information regarding the prospective increased utilization of women at sea. While women in the past have served aboard both hospital and Navy transport ships, they have been restricted by Federal law from sewing on other Navy Ships. The pilot program utilizing USS SANCTUARY is expected to begin in early 1973. Stating that while women in the Navy have historically played a significant role in the accomplishment of our naval mission, CNO said, we can do far more than we have in the past in according women equal opportunity to contribute their extensive talents and to achieve full professional status. One of the major actions to be taken, in addition to the enlisted ratings that have recently been opened to women, is to authorize limited entry of enlisted women into all ratings. In this connection, the Chief of Naval Operations envisioned the possibility that the number of women in the Navy, novv approximately 9000 lincluding 6000 WAVES, might be doubled, or tripled.. We must be in a position to utilize women's talents to help us achieve the size Navy we need under an all-volunteer force environment, CNO said.