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same 'rolling' collar and notched lapels as the blue outfit. In this dress the collar devices were worn on the shirt, and the ranking on stiff dark blue shoulder-boards in the form of conventional transverse stripes across the ends. The collar insignia also varied in that a rank device was worn on the right-hand shirt collar point, and the NNC insignia on the left point only.
Ranking paralleled US Navy commissioned ranks from lieutenant-commander down:
[|4 columned table]]
|Insignia on shirt collar (whites)| Insignia on shoulder-board (whites) and cuff (blues)| NNC Ranks| USN Ranks|
|---|---|---|---|

The caps had either blue or white crowns but were otherwise identical for both uniforms. In shape they resembled a male officer's peaked cap with the peak removed. The circular crown was about half an inch higher at the front than the back, and the black mohair band increased in width from 3/4in. at the back to 1 1/4in. at the front. There was a half-inch gold lace chinstrap, with keeps and buttons, placed at the top, rather than the bottom edge of the band at the front; and the gilt NNC insignia was pinned to the front of the crown.

All in all, the December 1942 orders brought the appearance of the NNC uniform much closer to that of the US Navy proper.

A July 1942 modification of the 1938 Reserve Act allowed the enrolment of women in the Naval Reserve, creating new uniform problems for the Navy Department. On 20 March 1943 the Bureau of Naval Personnel issued uniform regulations for the Women's Reserve, but this document made no mention of current 1941 regulations. Given the Navy's attitude that the employment of women in uniform by the Navy was purely a temporary measure, it is not surprising that until 1948 WAVE uniform instructions were published separately from those of the rest of the service.

The Navy suffered from lack of experience of women's uniforms. The only authorized women's uniform in World War 1 was that of the 1917 'Yeomanettes', very far removed from military or civilian fashion of the 1940s. Following the Army example, the USN called on the expertise of such civilian designers as Main-Bocher. The final result was a very stylish, smart assemblage of military and civilian fashions, based on a blue or white single-breasted jacket with matching skirt, and a hat with a blue or white cover, for both officers and enlisted ranks.

In the women's services a democratic uniformity of dress for all ranks was always more noticeable than in male services. In the WAVES the enlisted ranks wore the same jacket as officers but with blue plastic buttons. Officers and chief petty officers wore the same type of hat, with a stiffened oval crown and short brim rolled up at the sides and flat at front and back; either blue or white covers could be worn. Enlisted ranks wore a wider-brimmed, softer 'pudding basin' hat similar to the early British model, with the brim turned back up at the back and down at the front, and a dark blue ribbon tally with the gilt lettering 'U.S. NAVY'. The trade and rating badges worn on the left sleeve were the same as for male personnel.
There were four orders of dress for officers:

Service Blue Dress, A: -Navy blue jacket, skirt, and hat, black gloves and shoes. Navy blue or light blue shirt for working dress, white shirt and gloves for dress.

Service Blue Dress, B: -Identical but with white hat cover and gloves.

Service White Dress: -White jacket, skirt, long-sleeved shirt, shoes, gloves and hat cover.

Working Dress: -Navy blue jacket and skirt, white short-sleeved shirt, white gloves and hat cover.

The uniform jackets were single-breasted with four gilt buttons. The WAVE device, a foul anchor superimposed on a three-blade propeller, was attached to the rounded points of the collar. On the blue jacket the propeller was light blue and the anchor white, embroidered on a dark blue disc of