From 1945 until 1981, a collection of war-time huts built to accommodate munition workers in 1942, became the new entry training establishment for the Women’s Royal Naval Service.

It was named HMS Dauntless and was a situated at Burghfield near Reading in Berkshire. Every one of the 30,000 new entrants who spent their first month in the Service at Dauntless, remembers learning to march, polishing floors, undergoing x-rays, being immunised and practising shouting their official number whilst thrusting their pay book under the Pay Writer’s nose.

The current HMS Dauntless, a Type 45 Destroyer, has adopted the Association of Wrens as one of its Affiliates. The Association has received many invites to go onboard when the ship visits ports around the country and to other exciting and very special events such as a day at sea and a mess dinner. The Association very much values this relationship and holds the ship’s company close to its heart.

THE FIRST DAUNTLESS 1804: The first Dauntless was an 18 gun sloop launched at Hull in November of 1804. After running aground during a battle on the Vistula river in 1807 she was forced to surrender to the French.

SECOND HMS DAUNTLESS 1808: The second HMS Dauntless was launched only a year after the loss of the first. A 26 gun sloop, she served on the African coast and escorted convoys during the Napoleonic wars.

BATTLE HONOURS 1854: The third HMS Dauntless was a 24 gun frigate launched in 1847, earning the first battle honours for her name: Baltic 1854 and Crimea 1854-55.

THE FOURTH DAUNTLESS 1918: A Danae class cruiser built in 1918, she saw extensive action in WWII, spending the final years of the conflict as a training vessel before being broken up in 1946.

BATTLE HONOURS 1946: In 1939, shortly after the start of the Second World War, she took part in the occupation of the French Comoros Islands and Madagascar earning her Battle Honours.

THE FIFTH DAUNTLESS 1954: The next Dauntless was a shore establishment near Reading; the WRNS training centre from 1953 to 1981. The Association of Wrens has formed a strong bond with the new Dauntless.

MOST FAMOUS DAUNTLESS? 2003: Possibly the most famous Dauntless of all is a fictional one; it is the flagship of the Royal Navy in the 2003 Hollywood blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean.

TYPE 45 DAUNTLESS 2010: The Type 45 Air Defence destroyer joined the Fleet in November 2010, shortly after being the first of class to fire the new Sea Viper missile.