Many women have served in the United States Navy for over a century. As of 2020, there were 69,629 total women on active duty in the US Navy, with 11,076 serving as officers, and 58,553 enlisted. Of all the branches in the US military, the Navy has the second highest percentage of female active duty service members (after the US Air Force) with women making up 20% of the US Navy in 2020.[1]
, no woman has become a Navy SEAL. In 2019, a woman successfully completed SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection (SOAS), but opted to join another unit of the Navy.[2] She was among five women who had participated in the SOAS[3] screening process.
In July 2021, the first woman graduated from the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) training program to become a Special Warfare Combatant craft Crewman (SWCC). The SWCC directly supports the SEALs and other commando units, and are experts in covert insertion and extraction special operations tactics.[4] [5]
In November 2023, the United States Senate voted 95-1 to confirm Admiral Lisa Franchetti as Chief of Naval Operations, making Franchetti the first woman to be Chief of Naval Operations and, due to having that position, the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.[6]
Note that some minor wars women served in have been omitted from this history.
Women worked as nurses for the Union Navy during the American Civil War. In 1890, Ann Bradford Stokes, who during the American Civil War had worked as a nurse on the navy hospital ship, where she assisted Sisters of the Holy Cross, was granted a pension of $12 a month, making her the first American woman to receive a pension for her own service in the military.[7] [8]
The United States Navy Nurse Corps was officially established in 1908; it was all-female until 1965.[9] [10] After the establishment of the Nurse Corps in 1908 by an Act of Congress, twenty women were selected as the first members and assigned to the Naval Medical School Hospital in Washington, D.C. However, the navy did not provide room or board for them, and so the nurses rented their own house and provided their own meals.[11] In time, the nurses would come to be known as "The Sacred Twenty" because they were the first women to serve formally as members of the Navy. The "Sacred Twenty" were Mary H. Du Bose; Adah M. Pendleton; Elizabeth M. Hewitt; Della V. Knight; Josephine Beatrice Bowman; Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee; Esther Voorhees Hasson, the first Superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps, 1908–1911; Martha E. Pringle; Elizabeth J. Wells; Clare L. De Ceu.; Elizabeth Leonhardt; Estelle Hine; Ethel R. Parsons; Florence T. Milburn; Boniface T. Small; Victoria White; Isabelle Rose Roy; Margaret D. Murray; Sara B. Myer; and Sara M. Cox. The Nurse Corps gradually expanded to 160 on the eve of World War I. For a few months in 1913, Navy nurses saw their first shipboard service, aboard Mayflower and Dolphin.
The increased size of the navy in support of World War I increased the need for clerical and administrative support. The U.S. Naval Reserve Act of 1916 permitted the enlistment of qualified "persons" for service; Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels asked, "Is there any law that says a Yeoman must be a man?" and was told there was not.[12] Thus, the navy was able to induct its first female sailors into the U.S. Naval Reserve. The first woman to enlist in the U.S. Navy was Loretta Perfectus Walsh on 17 March 1917.[13] She was also the first American active-duty navy woman, and the first woman allowed to serve as a woman in any of the United States armed forces, as anything other than as a nurse. Walsh subsequently became the first woman U.S. Navy petty officer when she was sworn in as Chief Yeoman on 21 March 1917. During World War I Navy women served around the continental U.S. and in France, Guam and Hawaii, mostly as Yeomen (F), but also as radio operators, electricians, draftsmen, pharmacists, photographers, telegraphers, fingerprint experts, chemists, torpedo assemblers and camouflage designers. Some Black women served as Yeomen (F) and were the first Black women to serve as enlisted members of the U.S. armed forces.[14] These first Black women to serve in the navy were 16 Yeomen (F)—the total would rise to 24[15] —from some of "Washington's elite Black families" who "worked in the Muster Roll division at Washington's Navy Yard...."[16] Many women were demobilized when hostilities ceased, and aside from the Nurse Corps, the uniformed Navy once again became exclusively male.[17] [18]
See main article: WAVES.
World War II again brought the need for additional personnel. The Navy organized to recruit women into a separate women's auxiliary, labeled Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), which was created in 1942. WAVES served in varied positions around the continental U.S. and in Hawaii.
Two groups of Navy nurses (Navy nurses were all women then) were held prisoner by the Japanese in World War II. Chief Nurse Marion Olds and nurses Leona Jackson, Lorraine Christiansen, Virginia Fogerty and Doris Yetter were taken prisoner on Guam shortly after Pearl Harbor and transported to Japan. They were repatriated in August 1942, although the newspaper did not identify them as Navy nurses. Chief Nurse Laura Cobb and her nurses, Mary Chapman, Bertha Evans, Helen Gorzelanski, Mary Harrington, Margaret Nash, Goldie O'Haver, Eldene Paige, Susie Pitcher, Dorothy Still and C. Edwina Todd - some of the "Angels of Bataan" - were captured in 1942 in the Philippines and imprisoned in the Los Baños internment camp there, where they continued to function as a nursing unit, until they were rescued by American forces in 1945. Other Los Baños prisoners later said: "We are absolutely certain that had it not been for these nurses many of us who are alive and well would have died."[19] The Angels of Bataan (also known as the "Angels of Bataan and Corregidor" and "The Battling Belles of Bataan"[20]) were the members of the Navy Nurse Corps and the Army Nurse Corps who were stationed in the Philippines at the outset of the Pacific War (a theatre of World War II) and served during World War II's Battle of the Philippines (1941–42). When Bataan and Corregidor fell to the Japanese in 1942, they, 11 Navy nurses and 1 nurse-anesthetist (and 66 army nurses) were captured and imprisoned in and around Manila.[21] They were freed in February 1945.[22]
In October 1942, Navy Lieutenant, junior grade Ann A. Bernatitus became the first American recipient of the Legion of Merit.[23] She was also the first person authorized to wear the "V" Device with the award.[24] She was one of the Angels of Bataan and the only U.S. Navy nurse to escape from Bataan and Corregidor during the war.[25] [26]
Also in 1942, Susan Ahn Cuddy, who was Korean-American, became the first Asian-American woman to join the U.S. Navy. By 1946, she had become the first woman gunnery officer in the U.S. Navy and the first Korean-American in U.S. Naval Intelligence.[27]
In 1943, Thelma Bendler Stern, an engineering draftsman, became the first woman assigned to perform duties aboard a United States Navy ship as part of her official responsibilities.
In 1944, Lieutenant Harriet Ida Pickens and Ensign Frances Wills were commissioned as the first African-American female navy officers.
The first Black woman sworn into the Navy Nurse Corps was Phyllis Mae Dailey, a Columbia University student from New York, on 8 March 1945.[28] Three other African American women—Edith Mazie DeVoe, Helen Fredericka Turner, and Eula Lucille Stimley—
World War II ended in 1945. The Women's Armed Services Integration Act is a United States law that enabled women to serve as permanent, regular members of the armed forces, including the Navy. Prior to this act, women, with the exception of nurses, served in the military only in times of war. However, Section 502 of the act limited service of women by excluding them from aircraft and vessels of the Navy that might engage in combat.[32] On 15 October 1948, the first eight women were commissioned in the regular Navy: Joy Bright Hancock, Winifred Quick Collins, Ann King, Frances Willoughby, Ellen Ford, Doris Cranmore, Doris Defenderfer, and Betty Rae Tennant took their oaths as naval officers.[33]
Women in the Naval Reserve were recalled along with their male counterparts for duty during the Korean War.
Nurses served aboard the hospital ship USS Sanctuary. Nine non-nurse navy women served in country; however no enlisted navy women were authorized.
Women in the navy served in the Iraq War from 2003-2011.[34]
Major changes occurred for navy women in the 1970s. Alene Duerk became the first female admiral in the navy in 1972.[35] [36] In 1976 RADM Fran McKee became the first female unrestricted line officer appointed to flag rank. In 1978, Judge Sirica decided in favor of Petty Officer Yona Owens, and ruled the law banning navy women from ships to be unconstitutional in the US District Court for the District of Columbia case Owens v. Brown.[37] [38] That year, Congress approved a change to Title 10 USC Section 6015 to permit the navy to assign women to fill sea duty billets on support and noncombatant ships.[9] [39] During the 1970s, women began to enter the surface warfare and aviation fields, gained access to officer accession programs previously open only to men, and started to screen for command opportunities ashore.
Susan Livingstone served as the first female Acting United States Secretary of the Navy from January 24 to February 7 of 2003.[40] Although this is a civilian position, it is included in this article because the Secretary of the Navy is the civilian leader of the Navy (and the Marine Corps).[41]
In December 2015, Defense Secretary Ash Carter stated that starting in 2016 all combat jobs would open to women.[42] In March 2016 Ash Carter approved final plans from military service branches and the U.S. Special Operations Command to open all combat jobs to women, and authorized the military to begin integrating female combat soldiers "right away."[43]
In November 2023, the United States Senate voted 95-1 to confirm Admiral Lisa Franchetti as Chief of Naval Operations, making Franchetti the first woman to be Chief of Naval Operations and, due to having that position, the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.[6]
In 1972, Roseann Roberts became the first female helicopter plane captain in the navy.
In 1973 the Secretary of the Navy announced the authorization of naval aviation training for women. LTJG Judith Neuffer was the first woman selected for flight training. In 1974, the navy became the first service to graduate a woman pilot, LT Barbara Allen Rainey, followed closely by classmates Judith Neuffer, Ana Marie Fuqua, Rosemary Bryant Mariner, Jane Skiles O'Dea and Joellen Drag.
Women began attending Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) in 1976.[44]
In 1979 the Naval Flight Officer (NFO) program opened to women.
Also in 1979, Lt. Lynn Spruill became the first woman naval aviator to obtain carrier qualification.
On Nov. 15, 1994, Navy Lt. Kimberly “Face” Dyson became the first female pilot to fly an official combat mission for the American military.[45]
Frontiero v. Richardson,, was a landmark Supreme Court case[46] which decided that benefits given by the military to the family of service members cannot be given out differently because of sex.[47]
The Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) was opened to women in 1972 and the first woman was commissioned from a ROTC program in 1974. The Women Officer School (WOS), Newport, RI, was disestablished in 1973, and Officer Candidate School (OCS) training was integrated to support men and women. The United States Naval Academy, along with the other military academies, first accepted women in 1976 and commissioned its first female graduates in 1980. Women also began attending Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) in 1976.[44]
While still barred from serving on combatant vessels, enlisted women were accepted for training in the Naval Nuclear Power Program in the early 80s. After initial rating training, this consisted of Nuclear Power School (Orlando, FL), and the follow on Nuclear Power Training Unit (prototype) operational training (NY or ID). The first graduates of this training were in 1981. Because all nuclear powered vessels in the Navy at this time were combatants, these women were assigned to either prototype training billets or service/support roles on tenders and shore facilities. This caused some resentment among males in the enlisted nuclear power community because the women were viewed as taking away shore billets that would allow them to maintain a pay bonus based on their maintaining their proficiency in the nuclear power field. Training women in the nuclear power program was discontinued after a year or two because of this restriction on assigning them to combatant units.[48]
On 29 April 2010, the Department of the Navy announced authorization of a policy change allowing women to begin serving on board navy submarines.[49] [50] The new policy and plan was set to begin with the integration of female Officers. A group of up to 24 female Officers (three Officers on each of eight different crews)[50] were scheduled to enter the standard nuclear submarine training pipeline in July 2010[51] – and expected to report to submarine duty by late 2011 or early 2012.[50] Integration of Enlisted females into submarine crews was expected to begin soon thereafter.[51] [52] Initial candidates for female Submarine Officer positions were highly qualified selects from accession sources that include the Naval Academy, Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, STA-21 program and Officer Candidate School, with transfers possible for those from other Unrestricted Line Officer communities.[51] A group of up to eight female Supply Corps Officers was also expected to complete requisite training and begin submarine service in the same time frame.[50] [51]
Initial assignments for female submariners were on the blue and gold crews of selected guided-missile submarines (SSGNs) and ballistic-missile submarines (SSBNs). Two submarines of each type served as the inaugural vessels.[50] [51] The first group of U.S. female submariners completed nuclear power school and officially reported on board two ballistic and two guided missile submarines in November 2011.[53] In 2012, it was announced that 2013 would be the first year for women to serve on U.S. attack submarines.[54] On 22 June 2012, a sailor assigned to became the first female supply officer to qualify in U.S. submarines. Lt. Britta Christianson of Ohios Gold Crew received her Submarine Supply Corps "dolphins" from the Gold Crew Commanding Officer Capt. Rodney Mills during a brief ceremony at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF).[55]
On 5 December 2012, three sailors assigned to and became the first female unrestricted line officers to qualify in U.S. submarines.[56] LTJG Jennifer Noonan [ROTC Cornell University], a native of Scituate MA, and LTJG Amber Cowan both of Maines Blue Crew, and LTJG Marquette Leveque, a native of Fort Collins, Colo., assigned to the Gold Crew of Wyoming, and received their submarine "dolphins" during separate ceremonies at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Wash. and Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga. respectively.[56] In 2013, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said that the first women to join Virginia-class attack subs had been chosen: They were newly commissioned female officers scheduled to report to their subs in fiscal year 2015.[57] In August 2016, Chief Petty Officer Dominique Saavedra became the first enlisted female sailor to earn her submarine qualification, and was assigned to .[58]
In 1972 the pilot program for assignment of officers and enlisted women to ships was initiated on board USS Sanctuary (AH-17). In 1978 Congress approved a change to Title 10 USC Section 6015 to permit the navy to assign women to fill sea duty billets on support and noncombatant ships. The Surface Warfare community opened to women. In 1979, the first woman obtained her Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) qualification. In 1993, Congress approved women to serve on combat ships. There were about 33 women who were the first assigned to these sea billets.
| Year | Event | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1861-1865 | Women worked as nurses for the navy during the American Civil War. | ||
| 1908 | The Navy Nurse Corps was established; it was all-female until 1965. | ||
| 1917 | Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels announced that the navy would enlist women on 17 March.[59] | ||
| 1917 | Loretta Perfectus Walsh became the first woman to enlist in the navy on 17 March. | ||
| 1942 | President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Public Law 689 creating the navy's women reserve program (the WAVES) on 30 July 1942. | ||
| 1942 | Lieutenant Commander Mildred H. McAfee, USNR, director of the WAVES, became the navy's first female line officer. | ||
| 1942 | Navy Lieutenant, junior grade Ann A. Bernatitus became the first American recipient of the Legion of Merit. She was also the first person authorized to wear the "V" Device with the award. | ||
| 1942 | Susan Ahn Cuddy, a Korean-American, became the first Asian-American woman to join the Navy. | ||
| 1944 | Lieutenant Harriet Ida Pickens and Ensign Frances Wills were commissioned as the first African-American female navy officers. | ||
| 1944 | Sue Dauser, the director of the Navy Nurse Corps, became the first female captain in the navy.[60] | ||
| 1945 | The first Black woman sworn into the Navy Nurse Corps was Phyllis Mae Dailey, a Columbia University student from New York, on 8 March 1945. She was the first of only four Black women to serve as a Navy nurse during World War II. | ||
| 1945 | Jane Kendeigh became the first Navy flight nurse in an active combat zone, serving at Iwo Jima.[61] | ||
| 1945 | Mildred H. McAfee became the first woman to receive the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.[62] | ||
| 1948 | The Women's Armed Services Integration Act is a United States law that enabled women to serve as permanent, regular members of the armed forces, including the Navy. Prior to this act, women, with the exception of nurses, served in the military only in times of war. However, Section 502 of the act limited service of women by excluding them from aircraft and vessels of the Navy that might engage in combat. | ||
| 1948 | On 15 October 1948, the first eight women were commissioned in the regular Navy: Joy Bright Hancock, Winifred Quick Collins, Ann King, Frances Willoughby, Ellen Ford, Doris Cranmore, Doris Defenderfer, and Betty Rae Tennant took their oaths as naval officers. | ||
| 1959 | Yeoman Anna Der-Vartanian was the first woman in the navy promoted to master chief petty officer, and the first woman in the armed services promoted to E-9.[63] | ||
| 1961 | Lieutenant Charlene I. Suneson became the first line WAVES officer to be ordered to shipboard duty.[64] | ||
| 1967 | Public Law 90-130 was signed into law; it removed legal ceilings on women's promotions that had kept them out of the general and flag ranks, and dropped the two percent ceiling on officer and enlisted strengths for women in the armed forces.[65] | ||
| 1972 | Roseanne Roberts became the first female helicopter plane captain in the Navy.[66] [67] | ||
| 1972 | Alene Duerk became the first female admiral in the navy. | ||
| 1973 | Frontiero v. Richardson,, was a landmark Supreme Court case which decided that benefits given by the military to the family of service members cannot be given out differently because of sex. | ||
| 1974 | Lieutenant Junior Grade Barbara Ann (Allen) Rainey became the first navy woman to earn her wings on 22 February 1974.[68] | ||
| 1974 | The first women were commissioned through NROTC.[69] | ||
| 1975 | Schlesinger v. Ballard,, was a United States Supreme Court case that upheld a federal statute granting female naval officers four more years of commissioned service before mandatory discharge than male Naval officers.[70] A federal statute granted female Naval officers fourteen years of commissioned service while allowing only nine years of commissioned service for male Naval officers before mandatory discharge. The Supreme Court held that the law passed intermediate scrutiny equal protection analysis because women, excluded from combat duty, had fewer opportunities for advancement in the military. The Court found the statute to directly compensate for the past statutory barriers to advancement.[71] | ||
| 1976 | Fran McKee became the navy's first female unrestricted line flag officer.[72] | ||
| 1978 | Navy Nurse Joan C. Bynum became the first Black woman promoted to the rank of captain. | ||
| 1978 | Judge Sirica ruled the law banning navy women from ships to be unconstitutional in the US District Court for the District of Columbia case Owens v. Brown. | ||
| 1978 | Congress approved a change to Title 10 USC Section 6015 to permit the navy to assign women to fill sea duty billets on support and noncombatant ships. | ||
| 1979 | Lieutenant Lynn Spruill became the first female navy pilot qualified to land on aircraft carriers.[73] | ||
| 1979 | The first woman in the navy to qualify as a surface warfare officer did so this year.[74] | ||
| 1980 | The first women graduated from the United States Naval Academy. There were 81 women in the class of 1980 at the Naval Academy, and 55 of them graduated. Elizabeth Belzer was the first female graduate and Janie L. Mines was the first Black female graduate. | ||
| 1984 | Kristine Holderied became the first female valedictorian of the Naval Academy.[75] | ||
| 1990 | Rear Admiral Marsha J. Evans became the first woman to command a Naval Station.[76] | ||
| 1990 | Lieutenant Commander Darlene Iskra became the first navy woman to command a ship, .[77] | ||
| 1991 | The Tailhook scandal occurred, in which Navy (and Marine Corps) aviators were accused of sexually assaulting 83 women (and 7 men) at the Tailhook convention in Las Vegas.[78] | ||
| 1993 | Before the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy was enacted in 1993, lesbians and bisexual women (and gay men and bisexual men) were banned from serving in the military.[79] In 1993 the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy was enacted, which mandated that the military could not ask servicemembers about their sexual orientation.[80] [81] However, until the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy was ended in 2011, service members (including but not limited to female service members) were still expelled from the military if they engaged in sexual conduct with a member of the same sex, stated that they were lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and/or married or attempted to marry someone of the same sex.[82] | ||
| 1994 | On Nov. 15, 1994, Navy Lt. Kimberly “Face” Dyson became the first female pilot to fly an official combat mission for the American military. | ||
| 1995 | was the first destroyer to be built to accommodate women. | ||
| 1996 | Patricia Tracey became the first female three-star officer (vice admiral) in the navy.[83] | ||
| 1998 | CDR Maureen A. Farren became the first woman to command a combatant ship in the navy. | ||
| 1998 | Lillian Fishburne became the first African-American woman promoted to flag rank in the navy. | ||
| 2003 | Susan Livingstone served as the first female Acting United States Secretary of the Navy from January 24 to February 7 of 2003. Although this is a civilian position, it is included in this article because the Secretary of the Navy is the civilian leader of the Navy (and the Marine Corps). | ||
| 2006 | Carol M. Pottenger became the first woman to command an expeditionary strike group in the navy. | ||
| 2009 | The first pregnant midshipman graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2009. While regulations expressly forbade this, the woman was able to receive a waiver from the United States Department of the Navy.[84] | ||
| 2010 | Nora Tyson became the first woman to command a carrier strike group in the navy.[85] | ||
| 2010 | Martha E.G. Herb became the first woman Navy deep sea diver and member of the EOD community to be promoted to flag rank in the Navy.[86] | ||
| 2011 | The "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy was ended in 2011, thus putting an end to service members (including but not limited to female service members) being expelled from the military if they engaged in sexual conduct with a member of the same sex, stated that they were lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and/or married or attempted to marry someone of the same sex. | ||
| 2011 | The first group of female submariners in the navy completed nuclear power school and officially reported on board two ballistic and two guided missile submarines in November 2011. | ||
| 2012 | Commander Monika Washington Stoker became the first African American woman to take command of a navy missile destroyer.[87] | ||
| 2012 | Five "Tigertails" of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron One Two Five (VAW-125), embarked aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) as part of Carrier Air Wing Seventeen (CVW-17), flew an historic flight on 25 January when they participated in the navy's first all-female E-2C Hawkeye combat mission.[88] | ||
| 2012 | On 22 June 2012, a sailor assigned to USS Ohio (SSGN-726) became the first female supply officer to qualify in submarines in the navy. Lt. Britta Christianson of Ohio's Gold Crew received her Submarine Supply Corps "dolphins" from the Gold Crew Commanding Officer Capt. Rodney Mills during a brief ceremony at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF). | ||
| 2012 | On 5 December 2012, three sailors assigned to USS Maine (SSBN-741) and USS Wyoming (SSBN-742) became the first female unrestricted line officers to qualify in submarines in the navy. LTJG Marquette Leveque, a native of Fort Collins, Colorado, assigned to the Gold Crew of Wyoming, and LTJG Amber Cowan and LTJG Jennifer Noonan [ROTC Cornell University], a native of Scituate MA, both of Maine's Blue Crew received their submarine "dolphins" during separate ceremonies at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga., and Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Wash. | ||
| 2012 | Robin Braun became the first female commander of the Navy Reserve, making her the first female three star aviator and the first woman to lead any Reserve component of the military.[89] | ||
| 2014 | Michelle J. Howard became the first female four-star admiral in the navy. | ||
| 2014 | Jan E. Tighe became the first woman to command a numbered fleet when she assumed command of the navy's Tenth Fleet on 2 April 2014.[90] | ||
| 2014 | In July 2014, Marine Corps Captain Katie Higgins became the first female pilot to join the Blue Angels, the navy's flight demonstration squadron. She piloted the team's KC-130 Hercules support aircraft, "Fat Albert."[91] | ||
| 2015 | Nora Tyson was installed as the commander of the navy's Third Fleet, making her the first woman to lead a navy operational fleet.[92] [93] | ||
| 2015 | Cheryl Hansen became the first female commander of the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Mississippi.[94] | ||
| 2015 | In December 2015, Defense Secretary Ash Carter stated that starting in 2016 all combat jobs would open to women. | ||
| 2016 | In March 2016, Defense Secretary Ash Carter approved final plans from military service branches and the U.S. Special Operations Command to open all combat jobs to women, and authorized the military to begin integrating female combat soldiers "right away." | ||
| 2016 | In August 2016, Dominique Saavedra became the first enlisted female sailor to earn her submarine qualification. | ||
| 2019 | In 2019, Capt. Tamara Lawrence, a spokeswoman for Naval Special Warfare, confirmed that an anonymous woman completed the SOAS Navy Seal screening, but was afterwards transferred to another section of the Navy as she had not listed the SEALs as her first choice of military branch to serve with.[95] Lawrence also revealed that the woman who managed to complete the training was among five women who participated in the Navy SEAL SOAS training program as well and that this woman was awarded membership in the Navy branch of her choosing for completing the training. | ||
| 2021 | In July 2021, the first woman graduated from a Naval Special Warfare (NSW) assessment and selection pipeline to become a Special Warfare Combatant craft Crewman (SWCC). The SWCC directly supports the SEALs and other commando units, and are experts in covert insertion and extraction special operations tactics. | ||
| 2023 | In November 2023, Admiral Lisa Franchetti became the first female Chief of Naval Operations and, due to having that position, the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.[96] | ||
| 2023-2024 | At some point in a deployment that lasted from October 2023 until July 14, 2024, a woman in the Navy's Strike Fighter Squadron 32 (VFA-32) became the first American female pilot to engage and kill an air-to-air contact.[97] |
In the navy, women are currently eligible to serve in all ratings. In 2013 Leon Panetta removed the U.S. military's ban on women serving in combat, overturning a 1994 rule prohibiting women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units. Panetta's decision gave the U.S. military services until January 2016 to seek special exceptions if they believed any positions must remain closed to women. The services had until May 2013 to draw up a plan for opening all units to women and until the end of 2015 to actually implement it.[99] [100] In December 2015, Defense Secretary Ash Carter stated that starting in 2016 all combat jobs would open to women.[42]
The former policy set by Congress and the Secretary of Defense, effective 1 October 1994, excluded women from direct ground combat billets in the military, stating:
"Service members who are eligible to be assigned to all positions for which they are qualified, except that women shall be excluded from assignment to units below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground as defined below. "Direct ground combat is engaging an enemy on the ground with individual or crew-served weapons, while being exposed to hostile fire and to a high probability of direct physical contact with the hostile force's personnel. Direct combat take place well forward on the battlefield while locating and closing with the enemy to defeat them by fire, maneuver, or shock effect." However, qualified and motivated women are encouraged to investigate the diver and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) fields."
The Physical Fitness Assessment (PFA) is conducted twice a year for all sailors, which includes:
Physical Readiness Test (PRT) include different standards for male and female sailors. PRT is a series of physical activities designed to evaluate factors that enable members to perform physically. Factors evaluated are:
PT Fitness Standards (NSW/NSO programs only):
Frontiero v. Richardson,, was a landmark Supreme Court case [46] which decided that benefits given by the military to the family of service members cannot be given out differently because of sex.[47]
Spouse co-location assignments are fully supported by the Chief of Naval Personnel and when requested become the highest priority and main duty preference consistent with the needs of the navy. While not always possible, every effort, within reason, will be made for military couples and family members to move & serve together. Co-op assignments are not guaranteed.
The service member requesting transfer to join with his/her spouse or family member must have a minimum of one year on board his/her present command at the time of transfer.
Military couples may not be permanently assigned to the same ship or the same shipboard deployable command. For shore assignments, the couple will not be assigned to the same reporting station without the gaining CO's approval. Unusual circumstances may require a couple being temporarily assigned to the same afloat activity, which is allowable at the CO's discretion.[105]
According to scholars, since at least as early as 1960, Executive Order 10450 was applied to ban transgender individuals from serving in the United States military.[106] [107] On May 17, 1963, gender transitioned or transitioning individuals were officially prohibited from the United States military by Army Regulation 40-501. This policy reasoned transgender people were medically unqualified to serve because their mental state was considered unfit.[108] Later, after varying restrictions over the years, there stopped being restrictions on people serving in the military due to their being transgender when President Joe Biden signed the "Executive Order on Enabling All Qualified Americans to Serve Their Country in Uniform" on January 25, 2021.[109] [110]
In her 1995 book Tailspin: Women at War in the Wake of Tailhook, Jean Zimmerman reported that there was a perception in the navy that women sailors use pregnancy to escape or avoid deployed ship duty. In an example cited by Zimmerman, in 1993 as the USS Cape Cod prepared to depart on a deployment cruise, 25 female sailors, out of a crew of 1,500, reported being pregnant shortly before the scheduled departure and were reassigned to shore duty. Although Zimmerman felt that the number of pregnancies was small and should not be regarded as significant, the senior enlisted sailor on the ship, Command Master Chief Alice Smith rejoined, "Just about every division has been decimated by the number of pregnancies. Now tell me that's not going to hurt a ship."[111] A 1997 study by the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center found that female sailors assigned to ships experienced higher pregnancy and abortion rates than shore-based female sailors.[112]
A Navy policy change in June 2007 extended post-partum tours of duty ashore from 4 months to 12 months. A Virginia Pilot article in October 2007 reported on the navy's policy decision as a means to improve long term retention of trained personnel. The chief of women's policy for the chief of personnel noted that far more men than women fail to deploy or are sent back from deployment, "because of sports injuries, discipline issues or testing positive for drugs."[113]
In 2009, Andrew Tilghman reported in the Military Times on a Naval Inspector General (IG) report noting that, in the wake of this change, Navy shore commands based in Norfolk reported that 34% of their assigned members were pregnant sailors reassigned from ship duty. Since shore-based assignments for pregnant sailors were extended in 2007, the number of navy women leaving deploying units to have children rose from 1,770 in June 2006 to 3,125 as of 1 August 2009. Tilghman further reports that Navy Personnel Command is reviewing the report.[114]
Before the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy was enacted in 1993, lesbians and bisexual women (and gay men and bisexual men) were banned from serving in the military.[79] In 1993 the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy was enacted, which mandated that the military could not ask servicemembers about their sexual orientation.[80] [81] However, until the policy was ended in 2011 service members were still expelled from the military if they engaged in sexual conduct with a member of the same sex, stated that they were lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and/or married or attempted to marry someone of the same sex.[82]
In July 1994, policy changes were made expanding the number of assignments available to women in the navy. At this time, repeal of the combat exclusion law gave women the opportunity to serve on surface combatant ships but still excluded assignments for women to serve on board submarines.[49] [50] Previously there had been concern about bringing women onto submarines because living quarters offered little privacy and weren't considered suitable for mixed-gender habitation.[115]
In October 2009, the Secretary of the Navy announced that he and the Chief of Naval Operations were moving aggressively to change the policy.[52] Reasons included the fact that larger SSGN and SSBN submarines now in the Fleet had more available space and could accommodate female Officers with little or no modification. Also, the availability of qualified female candidates with the desire to serve in this capacity was cited. It was noted that women now represented 15% of the Active Duty Navy[52] and that women today earn about half of all science and engineering bachelor's degrees. A policy change was deemed to serve the aspirations of women, the mission of the navy and the strength of its submarine force.[49] [52]
In February 2010, the Secretary of Defense approved the proposed policy and signed letters formally notifying Congress of the intended change. After receiving no objection, the Department of the Navy officially announced on 29 April 2010, that it had authorized women to serve on board submarines moving forward.[50]
The first group of U.S. female submariners completed nuclear power school and officially reported on board two ballistic and two guided missile submarines in November 2011.[53]
Alene Duerk became the first female admiral in the navy in 1972.[35] [36] Michelle J. Howard became the first female four-star admiral in the navy in 2014.
| Name | Commission | Position | Community | RDML | RADM | VADM | ADM | Retired | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 (USNA) | Vice Chief of Naval Operations | Surface Warfare | 2006 | 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | 2017 | First woman to earn fourth star in the US Navy. | ||
| 1970 | Director, Navy Staff, N09B, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations | URL | ? | ? | 1996 | 2004 | First woman to earn third star in the US Navy. | |||
| 1974 (OCS) | President, National Defense University | Fleet Support | 1999 | 2002 | 2005 | 2012 | ||||
| 1974 (OCS) | Director for C4 Systems (J6) | URL | 2000 | 2003 | 2006 | 2009 | ||||
| 1977 (NROTC) | Surface Warfare | 2003 | 2007 | 2010 | 2013 | |||||
| 1984 (OIS) | JAG | 2009[116] | 2009 | 2012 | 2015 | |||||
| 1980 | Chief of Navy Reserve/Commander, Navy Reserve Force | Reserve, Naval Aviator | 2007 | 2011 | 2012 | 2016 | ||||
| 1979 (OCS) | Commander, US Third Fleet | Naval Flight Officer | 2007 | 2011 | 2013 | 2017 | First woman to command a carrier strike group. | |||
| 1984 (USNA) | Commander, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command, Commander U. S. 10th Fleet | IDW/Crypto | 2010 | 2013 | 2014 | 2018 | First female IDW flag officer. First woman to command a numbered fleet. | |||
| [117] | 1987 (OCS) | Commander, Joint Forces Headquarters - Department of Defense Information Network (JFHQ-DODIN); Director of the Defense Information Agency (DISA) [118] | IDW | 2013 | 2016 | 2018 | 2021 | |||
| 1950 | Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel for Human Resource Management | URL | 1976 | 1978 | 1981 | First woman line officer promoted to flag rank in the United States Navy. Second woman promoted to flag rank in the United States Navy | ||||
| 1960 | Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel, Personnel Readiness and Community Support 1989–1992 | URL | 1984 | 1989 | 1992 | First woman to command a navy training command (NTC San Diego 1982). | ||||
| 1967 | Superintendent of the Naval Postgraduate School 1995–1998 | Fleet Support | 1992 | 1996 | 1998 | |||||
| 1969 | 18th Director, Navy Nurse Corps 1994–1998 | SHCE (Nurse Corps) | 1994 | 1997 | 2000 | 18th Director, Navy Nurse Corps. | ||||
| 1970 (OCS) | Provost, Naval War College 2000–2002 | URL | 1994 | 1998 | 2002 | |||||
| 1970 | Director, Ashore Readiness, Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.c. 2000 – 2001 | Fleet Support | 1995 | 1999 | 2001 | First woman commander of Navy Region Southwest (aka "Navy Mayor of San Diego"), 1997–2000. | ||||
| 1975 (OIS) | Fleet Surgeon, U.S. Atlantic Fleet 1999– | Medical Corps | 1997 | 2000 | 2003 | First female physician to become a flag officer in the military. | ||||
| 1971 | Program Director, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense 2003–2005 | Engineering Duty Officer | 1996 | 2001 | 2005 | |||||
| 1975 | Chief of Staff, Chief of Naval Operations, N093R, Washington, D.C. | SHCE (Nurse Corps) | 1997 | 2001 | 2002 | 1st female two-star in the Reserves. | ||||
| 1973 (OIS) | Deputy Surgeon General of the Navy/ Vice Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery 2002–2005 | SHCE (Nurse Corps) | 1998 | 2001 | 2005 | 19th Director of the Navy Nurse Corps from August 1998 to August 2001. First Nurse Corps officer to be assigned to the position of Deputy Surgeon General of the Navy. | ||||
| 1974 (OCS) | Commander, Navy Region Southeast (2002) | Fleet Support | 1999 | 2003 | 2005 | |||||
| 1974 (OCS) | Director, Supply, Ordnance and Logistics Operations Division, N41 2003–2005 | Supply Corps | 1999 | 2002 | 2005 | |||||
| 1973 (OIS) | Deputy Chief for Reserve Affairs at the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery 2005–2006? | SHCE (Nurse Corps) | 2001 | 2004 | 2006 | |||||
| 1972 (OIS) | Senior Health Care Executive Regional Director, TRICARE Regional Office – West | SHCE (Nurse Corps) | 2003 | 2005 | 2009 | 20th Director of the Navy Nurse Corps. | ||||
| 1974 (OCS) | Commander, Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command | URL | 2001 | 2006 | 2010 | |||||
| 1978 (OCS) | Director, National Maritime Intelligence Center | Reserve | 2003 | 2006 | 2009 | |||||
| 1976 (NROTC) | Reserve | 2003 | 2006 | 2009 | ||||||
| 1977 (OCS) | URL | 2003 | 2006 | 2010 | First woman to Command the JTF-GNO, after serving as its Deputy Commander. First woman Vice Director at DISA. | |||||
| 1974 | Commander, Navy Medicine West, Naval Medical Center San Diego | Nurse Corps | 2004 | 2007 | 2010 | 21st Director of the Navy Nurse Corps. | ||||
| 1980 | deputy director, TRICARE Management Activity | Medical | 2004 | 2007 | 2011 | |||||
| 1977 (AOCS) | Commander, Navy Warfare Development Command, Norfolk | Reserve | 2004 | 2008 | 2011 | First female naval aviator promoted to Flag rank. | ||||
| 1973 (OIS) | Deputy Surgeon General of Navy Medicine | Nurse Corps | 2003 | 2008 | 2012 | 22nd Director of the Navy Nurse Corps. | ||||
| 1978 (OCS) | Director, Inter-American Defense College | URL | 2005 | 2008 | 2012 | |||||
| 1979 (OCS) | Director, Supply, Ordnance and Logistics Operations Division (OPNAV N41) | Supply Corps | 2006 | 2009 | 2012 | |||||
| 1980 (NROTC) | Vice Director for C4 Systems (J6) | URL, then Information Professional[119] | 2006 | 2009 | 2012 | |||||
| 1981 | Director, Navy Nurse Corps | Nurse Corps | 2008 | 2010 | 2013 | 23rd Director of the Navy Nurse Corps | ||||
| 1981 (NROTC) | Commander, Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group (NAVELSG) | Reserve, Supply Corps | 2007 | 2010 | 2013 | |||||
| 1980 (OCS) | Director, Total Force Requirements Division (OPNAV N12) | Navy Human Resources Officer | 2008 | 2012 | 2014 | |||||
| 1981 (USNA) | Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense for Military Professionalism | Naval Flight Officer | 2008 | 2012 | 2017 | 82nd Commandant of Midshipmen, USNA – first woman. | ||||
| 1980 (USNA) | Senior Advisor for Space to the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance (OPNAV N2/N6) | Reserve | 2007 | 2012 | 2015 | |||||
| 1982 (USNA) | Commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Chief of Civil Engineers | CEC | 2010 | 2013 | 2015 | First female CEC admiral. | ||||
| 1983 (OCS) | Director, National Maritime Intelligence-Integration Office, Commander, Office of Naval Intelligence | Intelligence | 2009 | 2013 | 2016 | |||||
| 1982 | Deputy Commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Deputy Chief of Civil Engineers | CEC | 2010 | 2013 | 2016 | |||||
| 1984 | Deputy Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Wounded, Ill and Injured | Dental Corps | 2010 | 2013 | 2017 | Chief of the Naval Dental Corps, 2010 – 2017 | ||||
| 1985 (USNA) | Deputy Director, Contingency Contracting, Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP), OSD (Acquisition Technology & Logistics) | Supply Corps | 2011 | 2014 | 2017 | |||||
| 1983 | Deputy Judge Advocate General (Reserve Affairs & OPS) | JAG | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | |||||
| 1979 (OCS) | Director Inter-American Defense College | EOD | 2010 | 2014 | 2018 | |||||
| 1980 (OCS) | Commander, Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group | Supply Corps | 2011 | 2014 | 2017 | |||||
| 1981 | Chief of Staff, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery | Nurse Corps | 2011 | 2014 | 2018 | |||||
| 1986 (OIS) | Chaplain of the United States Marine Corps, deputy chief of Navy Chaplains | Chaplain Corps | 2010 | 2014 | 2018 | 18th Chaplain of the USMC, first female chaplain at USNA. | ||||
| 1943 | Director Navy Nurse Corps 1970–1975 | Nurse Corps | 1972 | 1975 | First female admiral in the United States Navy. Director Navy Nurse Corps 1970–1975. | |||||
| 1951 | Director, Navy Nurse Corps 1975–1979 | Nurse Corps | 1975 | 1979 | Director, Navy Nurse Corps. | |||||
| 1951 | 14th Director, Navy Nurse Corps 1979–1983 | Nurse Corps | 1979 | 1983 | 14th Director, Navy Nurse Corps. | |||||
| 1953 | Commander, Naval Training Center Orlando | URL | 1981 | 1984 | Second woman line officer selected for flag rank. | |||||
| 1944 | Head, Training and Technology Directorate/Special Advisor to the Commander, Naval Data Automation Command | URL? | 1983 | 1986 | Co-inventor of COBOL. Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer named for RADM Hopper. | |||||
| 1951 | 15th Director, Navy Nurse Corps 1983–1987 | Nurse Corps | 1983 | 1987 | 15th Director, Navy Nurse Corps. | |||||
| 1959 | 16th Director, Navy Nurse Corps 1987–1991 | Nurse Corps | 1987 | 1991 | Director, Navy Nurse Corps. | |||||
| 1964 | Commander, Naval Base Philadelphia −1994 | URL | 1991 | 1994 | First woman to command a naval base. | |||||
| 1966 | 17th Director, Navy Nurse Corps 1991–1994 | Nurse Corps | 1991 | 1994 | 17th Director, Navy Nurse Corps. | |||||
| 1964 | Reserve Nurse Corps | 1990 | 1995 | First Reserve flag officer for Navy Nurse Corps. | ||||||
| 1963 | Commander, Naval Space Command, Dahlgren, VA 1995–1997 | Fleet Support | 1993 | 1997 | ||||||
| 1962 | Deputy Director of the Navy Nurse Corps for Reserve Affairs | Reserve Nurse Corps | 1994 | 1997 | ||||||
| Director, On-Site Inspection Directorate 1998–2000 | Fleet Support | 1996 | 2000 | |||||||
| 1973 (OCS) | Director, Information Transfer Division for the Space, Information Warfare, Command and Control Directorate ?-2001 | URL | 1998 | 2001 | First African-American woman to achieve flag rank. | |||||
| 1967 | Deputy Commander, Navy Personnel Command | Reserve, Fleet Support | 1999 | 2002 | ||||||
| 1977 | White House Physician | Medical Corps | 2000 | 2001 | First Filipino-American flag officer. | |||||
| 1973 (OCS) | Director of Intelligence, J2, U.S. Joint Forces Command | Intelligence | 2000 | 2005 | First Director, Navy Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), FORCEnet. First female Intel officer selected for flag rank in the United States Navy. | |||||
| 1977 | Senior Health Care Executive, U.S. Navy Commander, Navy Medicine Support Command | Dental Corps | 2005 | 2008 | First female Chief of the Naval Dental Corps, 2003–2007. | |||||
| 1976 (OCS) | Commander, Mine Warfare Command 2005–2006 | Surface Warfare | 2003 | 2007 | First warfare-qualified woman selected for flag rank in the United States Navy. | |||||
| 1980 (OIS) | Deputy Commander, Navy Medicine National Capital Area | Reserve | 2007 | 2014 | ||||||
| 1984 (USNA) | Director, Systems Engineering National Reconnaissance Office; Commander, SPAWAR Space Field Activity (SSFA), PEO for Space Systems, USN | URL | 2008 | 2011 | ||||||
| 1982 | Director, Medical Service Corps, Commander, Navy Medicine Support Command, Jacksonville, Florida | MSC | 2009 | 2014 | 16th director of the Medical Service Corps (first female director) | |||||
| 1981 (OCS) | Deputy Commander, Navy Recruiting Command | URL | 2009 | 2016 | ||||||
| 1983 (OCS) | Commander, Navy Cyber Forces | IP | 2009 | 2015 | ||||||
| 1983 (NROTC) | Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group Two | Surface Warfare | 2010 | 2014 | ||||||
| [120] | 1984 (NROTC) | Assistant Chief of Naval Operations, Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN) | URL | 2010 | 2014 | |||||
| 1987 | Fleet Surgeon, Third Fleet | NNC | 2010 | 2013 | ||||||
| 1981 (OCS) | Deputy Commander, Naval Expeditionary Combat Command | URL (SWO) | 2011 | 2015 | ||||||
| 1983 (NROTC) | Commander, Navy Recruiting Command | Navy Human Resources Officer | 2012 | 2015 | ||||||
| 1983 (OCS) | Program Executive Officer for Air ASW, Assault & Special Mission Programs, PEO(A) | AMDO | 2012 | 2016 | ||||||
| 1988 | Deputy Commander, Navy Medicine East | Nurse Corps | 2013 | 2015 | 2018 | |||||
| 1985 (USNA) | Commander, Navy Region Southwest | EOD/ Diving & Salvage | 2013 | 2021 | ||||||
| Deputy Chief of Staff, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Deputy Chief, Navy Reserve Dental Corps | Dental Corps | 2013 | 2016 | |||||||
| 1985 (NROTC) | Chief of Naval Operations | SWO | 2013 | 2018 | 2022 | First women to become CNO | ||||
| 1981 (USNA) | Deputy Chief of Staff for Fleet Maintenance, Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet | Reserve EDO | 2013 | 2016 | ||||||
| Commander, Defense Contract Management Agency International | Reserve Supply Corps | 2013 | 2016 | 2019 | ||||||
| 1985 (NROTC) | Reserve Deputy, Military Personnel Plans & Policy N13R | HR | 2012 | 2015 | ||||||
| 1985 (USNA) | Commander, Logistics Group Western Pacific, Commander, Task Force 73, Singapore Area Coordinator | SWO | 2013 | 2016 | ||||||
| 1989 (NROTC) | Chief of Information (CHINFO) | PAO | 2014 | 2017 | ||||||
| 1989 (NROTC) | Cyber Security Division Director/Deputy Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer | IDWO | 2015 | 2019 | ||||||
| (NROTC) | Commander, U.S. Naval Information Forces | Intelligence | 2016 | 2019 | 2021 | |||||
| 1986 | First female C9 Squadron CO, VR52; Commander of NEPLO Program; Deputy Director OPNAV N81; Deputy Commander Navy IG; Deputy Commander USNAVSO and US FOURTH Fleet | Naval Aviator | 2014 | 2018 | Pilot for American Airlines | |||||
| [121] | 1979 | Director, Defense Health Agency | Medical Corps | 2011 | 2014 | 2015 | 2019 | |||
| 1986 | Commander, Navy Medicine Education, Training and Logistics Command | Nurse Corps | 2016 | 2020 | ||||||
| 1988 (USNA) | Commander, Navy Installations Command | SWO | 2014 | 2017 | 2017 | 2020 | Promoted directly from one-star to three-star. | |||
| 1990 (NROTC) | Director of the Maritime Partnership Program, U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet | Aviator | 2018 | |||||||
| 1988 (NROTC) | President, Naval War College | Aviator | 2015 | 2018 | ||||||
| 1988 (NROTC) | Director of Warfare Integration | IP | 2014 | 2018 | ||||||
| 1989 (USNA) | Chief of Staff, United States Southern Command | SWO | 2017 | 2020 | ||||||
| 1989 (USNA) | Chief of Legislative Affairs, United States Navy | Naval Aviator | 2017 | 2021 | 2022 |