
Admiral Michelle Howard Highest-Ranking Female Officer in U.S. Navy History
We recently posted about Jude Terry, the first woman admiral in the history of the British Royal Navy. On her appointment, Admiral Terry commented that the fact that she is a woman is irrelevant to her post and rank – simply “someone has to be first” and she most definitely will not be the last.
Admiral Terry’s appointment also seems like a good time to acknowledge the progress toward gender equality in the US Navy in the last half-century. This is not meant as a criticism of Great Britain, which saw its first female head of state in Mary Tudor, almost 500 years ago, a milestone that the United States has yet to reach.
Nevertheless, the US Navy appointed its first female admiral 50 years ago when Alene Duerk, director of the Navy Nurse Corps, was made Rear Admiral in 1972. Since then, by my count, 100 female officers have served or continue to serve in the rank of Admiral in the US Navy.