Women fought the battle of the Atlantic during World War Two Part One

Women fought the battle of the Atlantic during World War Two Part One

Daniel Meharg Daniel Meharg

Daniel Meharg

Educational & Cultural Program Manager | Program Curator

发布日期: 2024年3月8日
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During the Second World War, women served in the US Navy as part of the WAVES (Women accepted for voluntary emergency service). At Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field Naval Air station, WAVES served as air traffic controllers sending planes out over the Atlantic in search of German U-boats. Other women worked in Manhattan collecting information on the movements of these German submarines sending their locations to air traffic control in Brooklyn.

The war in Europe would be won or lost depending on how many ships carrying troops, equipment, and supplies made it safely across the Atlantic Ocean to Great Britain, Northern Africa and Russia. The German U-boat crews fought back, their deck guns shot down naval planes from Floyd Bennett Field and sunk many ships in the waters just south of Brooklyn. Women Waves at Floyd Bennett Field rebuilt planes, rearmed them with munitions, and packed parachutes for Navy pilots. Their efforts paid off, and German U-boats were unable to halt the defeat of Nazi Germany and the restoration of peace in Europe. To learn more about daily life of a WAVE at Floyd Bennett Field, check out these amazing oral histories given by the women who worked there: https://kerrdrill.tripod.com/index.html

Below are some photos of WAVES at Floyd Bennett Naval Air Station during World War Two.

Floyd Bennett Naval Air Station during World War Two formal dress review. Floyd Bennett Field employed women and men of all races during World War Two.


Look closely, these women were asked to bring items from their jobs at Floyd Bennett Field. Can you spot the duct tape and machine gun bullets?
This photograph is from a warplane assembly plant in Bethpage Long Island, but teams of women readied these same planes for flight at Floyd Bennett Field.
This photograph was taken in Manhattan during World War Two. It shows the work women did to vector aircraft and destroyers to areas where German U-boats were spotted. These women also monitored ship convoys coming in and out of New York harbor, making sure they had the protection from U-boats: vital work that saved thousands of lives during the war.
Waves at Floyd Bennett Field learn how to pack parachutes for pilots flying out from the Naval Air Station


This photo is a great example of the diverse group of people who repaired the planes that helped defeat the German Submarine threat in the Atlantic Ocean during World War Two






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