In a first for the US Navy in its 236-year-old history, it has appointed a woman as its four star admiral.
"For the first time in the Navy's 236-year history, a woman will be pinned with a fourth star," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said as Vice Admiral Michelle Howard was promoted to the service's highest rank at a ceremony yesterday.
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel congratulated Howard for being promoted to a four-star admiral.
"It is a milestone, of course, in her exemplary career, but it's also a milestone for the United States Navy, as she becomes the first four-star female African-American admiral," Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said.
Howard has served 32 years in the Navy. A 1978 graduate of Gateway High School in Aurora, Colorado, She graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1982.
She is also the first African American woman to command a ship, the amphibious, dock-loading ship, Rushmore, in 1999.
Kirby said the scope of her new duties as the vice chief of naval operations for the Navy is of immense responsibility and the Secretary is eager to seeing her get in the seat and get to work.
She is somebody who has done a lot of interesting things in her career, Earnest said.
