Women In The Navy

The fact that the United States military services have been opened up to women serving in almost every available MOS no longer seems strange. From modest beginnings where their service was generally in the rear in administrative jobs, or as nurses, women are now serving in every element and every level of leadership that is available in our Armed Forces, including combat.

This video gives you a fascinating collage of women serving in today’s United States Navy. They are pilots, ship commanders, nuclear power plant operators, submariners, and mechanics. As one of them says, regarding the wide range of women serving in the Navy today, “I am a sailor, a mother, a wife, an athlete, an artist, a woman of faith.” What that says to me is that, like the men they serve beside, they bring to the table all of the desires to serve, all of the attitudes and abilities that are necessary to learn and to perform all that the Navy (or any of the services) require for professional and effective service in today’s Navy.

I think you will hear, in these women’s voices, their passion for their various jobs in the Navy. You will hear women speaking about their experiences in the Navy, what they do, why they do it, and what it means to them to be able to do those jobs, to get that training, and to have those experiences.

According to the latest statistics available, the United States Navy has the second-highest percentage of female active-duty servicemembers at 20%. Only the Air Force has a higher percentage of females serving in all ranks. The Navy’s officer ranks are 20.4% female, which is around 11,444 women officers.

One of the women you will meet in this video is currently the Commanding Officer of the USS Momsen, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. But she is not the only woman commanding a warship currently in the United States Navy.

Capt. Amy Bauernschmidt became the first woman ever to command one of the U.S. Navy’s 11 aircraft carriers, the USS Abraham Lincoln, in 2022. Bauernschmidt, 52, is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. When she entered the Naval Academy, the idea of commanding a warship was not in the cards. But in 1993, just six months before she graduated from the Academy, the U.S. Congress passed legislation allowing women to serve on U.S. Navy combat ships. Thirty years later, she is commanding one of the U.S. Navy’s most powerful warships.

You will see women in this video who are working in every environment and MOS that a modern Navy warship relies on to operate in today’s environment. Women are serving on every kind of surface ship, as well as in submarines today. They are flying every type of aircraft, from fighter jets to helicopters. They are maintaining the nuclear power plants on ships, maintaining all of the electrical and mechanical elements, and operating all of the armaments of the modern Navy’s technologically sophisticated arsenal.

We honor all of the women who serve in today’s Navy. We can be rightly proud of the quality of men and women who serve in the United States Navy, making it a force that is second to none in the world. We say “Bravo Zulu” to all of the women who are currently serving and those who have served. Thank you for your service. We wish you all “Fair Winds and Following Seas.”