Thelma Bendler Stern Thelma Bendler Stern ( b . December 7 , 1923 ; married name : Neubauer ) is the first woman assigned to perform duties aboard a United States Navy ship as part of her official responsibilities . Stern was a civilian employee at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard during World War II , working in the engineering department . Her job as a ship ' s draftsman included taking measurements of ship features as required by her engineer colleagues to allow them to designate the placement of upgrades such as new anti - aircraft guns . Stern ’ s first assignment aboard ship occurred June 29 , 1943 , aboard the USNS " Escalante " , a tanker ( hull number AO70 ) . This was followed by assignments aboard a further 229 ships before her career at the Navy yard ended in January 1946 . Early life . Stern was born December 7 , 1923 , in Norfolk , Virginia , the second of seven children of Milford Josiah Stern , a real estate and life insurance agent , and Thelma Georgia Bendler Stern , who served as a yeomanette during World War I . Prior to the Great Depression , the Stern family enjoyed a prosperous upper - middle - class lifestyle , frequently traveling between their homes in New York and Norfolk . During the Depression , a series of events dominated by the failure of Mr . Stern ’ s stock market investments resulted in the family ’ s poverty . In the early 1930s they settled into a home in Norfolk , where Mr . Stern found work to provide for the family . His death by pneumonia in 1934 left Mrs . Stern raising seven children alone , ranging in age from two to thirteen years . Mrs . Stern worked for the Virginia Statistical Bureau and often had to travel to other cities around the state for weeks at a time , leaving Thelma , the eldest daughter , largely in charge of overseeing the younger children and running the household . With the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor occurring on the morning of her 18th birthday , an outraged Thelma Stern yearned to do whatever she could to help the US war effort . Still a junior in high school , she signed up for the mechanical drawing class at her high school , a course that had previously been open only to male students . World War II career . Upon graduating high school , Stern immediately applied for work in the Engineering division at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard . With the available able - bodied young men being called upon to serve in the armed forces , the navy leadership needed to be creative in their approach to meeting the demanding schedules involved in upgrading the fleet with modern weapon and defensive systems . This led to opportunities for non - traditional members of the work force , and many women were ready and willing to answer the call . Stern started work in the naval shipyard ’ s engineering department on June 7 , 1943 , assigned to the weights and stability section of the hull department . Many of her civilian male colleagues were either retired from service in the Navy , or were unfit for military service – disabled in ways that limited their ability to maneuver aboard ships , which required climbing ladders and stepping through narrow passageways . In order to accomplish work at the necessary pace , the chief engineer of the hull department used some of his female employees to obtain the precise measurements from ships as needed to engineer their defense system updates , such as placement of 40mm anti - aircraft guns . Stern was employed as a civilian . All of her duties aboard ships were performed while the ships were docked or in drydock , and never while underway . At the direction of the chief engineer , she was accompanied by an armed guard whenever performing duties aboard any vessel . The guard was always a member of the crew of the vessel being surveyed , appointed by its captain . Because of superstitions that persisted during the first half of the twentieth century , some ship captains refused to allow a female to board their ship . In those instances , the work schedule was adjusted to swap the ship that Stern had been assigned to with that of a male colleague . Post World War II life . As part of the demobilization program , Stern was released from her employment at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in January 1946 . She moved to Baltimore , Maryland , to accept a position as a draftsman with the Glenn L . Martin Company . There she met a fellow draftsman named Clarence Neubauer . They married in 1947 and raised five children together in Baltimore .