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.[3]
As of 2023[update], 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.[4] She was among five women who had participated in the SOAS[5] screening process.[4]
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.[6][7]
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.[8][9]
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