Capt. Kimberly Johnson Jones Continues A Stellar Navy Career
The first time I wrote a little bit about Capt. Kimberly Johnson Jones, it was in a story about several U.S. Navy women who were then commanding U.S. Navy warships. Johnson Jones has had a very successful career with the United States Navy in her over 20 years of service. The video attached to this article is from when she was commanding the USS Tortuga (LSD-46), an amphibious landing ship. I think you will find her a delightful, gifted, thoughtful, and dedicated representative of the quality of the officers presently serving in today’s Navy.
Johnson Jones was born and raised in West Philadelphia, where, as a gifted student, she attended the George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science. After graduating high school, she attended Tuskegee University, graduating with an engineering degree.
It was in her junior year at Tuskegee, and after doing some internships with Pratt and Whitney and other corporate engineering companies, that she realized that she didn’t want to go the corporate route. She wanted something more. After graduation, she made a fateful decision to join the United States Navy, and, as she says in the video, she did not exactly know it at the time, but it was the best decision she ever made. She was commissioned after attending the U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI.
Jones began to understand the magnitude of responsibility with her choice to serve as an officer in the U.S. Navy after she received her initial Officer of the Deck Qualification. “It was at that moment that I not only realized that an organization was entrusting me with the safe navigation of a national asset at the age of 24, but I also realized I had the opportunity to serve my country in a unique and meaningful way. I still feel that way, and I cherish the privilege every day.”
Over time, Johnson Jones has risen steadily in the ranks and proved both her professional and her leadership skills to the Navy. She would be accepted into the very competitive Nuclear Surface Warfare pipeline. She qualified for it after completing the Naval Nuclear Power School. When she was promoted to commander of the USS Tortuga (LSD-46), she was only the sixth woman to be given command of an active U.S. Navy warship.
More recently, on August 22, 2022, she became the first Black woman to assume duties as Reactor Officer on a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). That position leans heavily on both her engineering and her leadership skills. Throughout her career, she has balanced her family duties and her Navy responsibilities with equal skill.
The Veterans Site congratulates Capt. Kimberly Johnson Jones in her new job as Reactor Officer on the USS Eisenhower. You are a great model of service, sacrifice, dedication and leadership for all who want to serve in the greatest navy in the world. Bravo Zulu, Capt. Johnson Jones. May your continued leadership be full of Fair Winds and Following Seas.
