This article describes what would have been the first assignment of a female sailor to USNS Michelson.  The original included two photographs which were not archived with the text, although the captions remain.  The article is rife with errors, but still informative.

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Abstract:

Yona Owens was an IC working as a telephone repairperson at Negishi Microwave near Tokyo, ca. 1974. Owens spent 18 months in Japan before learning she had been given orders to serve on a non-combatant oceanographic research vessel, the U.S.N.S. Michelson. Before she could report for duty, her orders were cancelled. That's when she called [Suzanne] Stout.

Stout, Owens, and five other women filed a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.  targeting Section 6015 of Title 10 of the Women's Armed Services Integration Act that banned women from serving at sea and from combat aircraft.

The case was heard in court on March 15, 1978. The decision came on July 27, 1978. [Judge] Sirica ruled that section of military law unconstitutional and noted "whatever problems might arise from integrating shipboard crews are matters (for). appropriate training."