The US Navy has promoted a woman to the rank of a four-star admiral for the first time in its 238-year history, a milestone for females in the American military.
In a ceremony on Tuesday, Michelle Howard was promoted to vice chief of naval operations, the number two job in the service.
Howard, 54, is known for commanding a counter-piracy task force in the Gulf of Aden that oversaw the 2009 rescue of a commercial cargo ship skipper, Captain Richard Phillips, who was abducted by Somali pirates.
The rescue involving Navy SEALs was later depicted in a film starring Tom Hanks. “If you don´t believe today was a first, when I called to order four-star shoulder boards for women, they didn´t exist,” Howard said during her promotion ceremony.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said Howard had earned her promotion through “a brilliant naval career” and hailed it as “an historic first. “”She will bear the burden of a role model and she is ready to bear that very well,” said Navy chief Admiral Jonathan Greenert.
