Kevin Winter 1 - Women at sea...na it'll never work
Name: Kevin 'Snowy' Winter
Rate: Warrant Officer
Service: 1974 - present
Job: Personnel Division
Kevin joined the Navy in 1974 when he was 16. He completed basic training at HMS Ganges. After a brief spell of training as a cook he changed branches and specialised in Seamanship and Radar. During his 32 years in the Navy he has served on 9 ships. One of these - HMS Grafton 2003 to 2005 - was a mixed ship.
In the clip below Kevin discusses how he and his male colleagues on HMS Marlborough felt when they heard that women were going to serve at sea.
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Extract Text (Duration1.10)
Q: So on Marlborough, which was an all male ship, what was the main conversation about?
Oh I think it was a case of 'women at sea, nah, never work' and here we are 15 years down the road and I don?t think anybody bats an eyelid anymore. Um, I think we were aware that other ships were gonna be the first ones to have females at sea. You certainly looked at different branches in different eyes as well; I don't think anybody had any problems with writers or stores accountants being female because it was a less physical job. I think people couldn't see a female gunner, you know, lifting 4.5 inch shells into racks etc. So I think that was the biggest thing that people were sceptical about, purely the physical abilities of females being able to one, do the physical parts of the job and two, cope with being at sea.
Women at sea? na it'll never work
1.10 mins - mp3 File
Subtle changes rather than big changes
0.55 mins - mp3 File
It had a civilising effect
0.52 mins - mp3 File
You were Grafton's ships company, male or female, it didn't matter
1.39 mins - mp3 File
Everybody ate the food, so everybody got it onboard
1.34 mins - mp3 File
Entertainment - it's a lot tamer than it used to be
0.58 mins - mp3 File
