Women in the United States Navy Women have served in the United States Navy for over a century . Today , there are over 52 , 391 women serving on active duty in an array of traditional ( administrative , medical , etc . ) and non - traditional ( aviation , combat systems , special ops , etc . ) ratings or careers . Like their male counterparts , female Sailors are expected to adhere to regulations specific to appearance , grooming , and health and physical fitness ; however some differences may exist in relation to pregnancy and parenting provisions created to help support military families . History . Pre – World War I . Women worked as nurses for the Navy as early as the American Civil War . The United States Navy Nurse Corps was officially established in 1908 . See United States Navy Nurse Corps for the evolution of the Navy Nurse Corps . World War I . The increased size of the United States Navy in support of World War I increased the need for clerical and administrative support . Since Naval Reserve Act of 1916 authorizing the enlistment of yeomen did not specify that they had to be male , the Navy was able to induct its first female sailors into the U . S . Naval Reserve . Women served around the continental U . S . and in France , Guam and Hawaii , mostly as yeomen , but also as radio operators , electricians , draftsmen , pharmacists , photographers , telegraphers , fingerprint experts , chemists , torpedo assemblers and camouflage designers . The women were all released from active duty after the end of the war . See Yeoman ( F ) . World War II . World War II again brought the need for additional personnel . This time the Navy organized to recruit women into a separate women ' s auxiliary , labeled Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service ( WAVES ) . WAVES served in varied positions around the continental U . S . and in Hawaii . See WAVES . Korean War era . Women in the Naval Reserve were recalled along with their male counterparts for duty during the Korean War . Vietnam War era . Nurses served aboard the hospital ship USS SANCTUARY . Nine non - nurse Navy women served in country , however no enlisted Navy women were authorized . Women in the Navy since 1972 . Major changes occurred for Navy women in the 1970s . CAPT Alene B . Duerk , NC , Director of the Navy Nurse Corps since 1968 , was spot promoted to Flag rank in 1972 , the first female naval officer to be appointed to flag rank . She was followed in 1976 by RADM Fran McKee as the first female unrestricted line officer appointed to flag rank . During this time , women began to enter the surface warfare and aviation fields , gained access to officer accession programs previously open only to men , and women started to screen for command opportunities ashore . Officer Accession Programs . The Reserve Officer Training Corps ( ROTC ) was opened to women in 1972 and the first woman was commissioned from a ROTC program in 1973 . The Women Officer School ( WOS ) , Newport , RI , was disestablished in 1973 , and Officer Candidate School ( OCS ) training was integrated to support men and women . The United States Naval Academy , along with the other military academies , first accepted women in 1976 and commissioned its first female graduates in 1980 . Women also began attending Aviation Officer Candidate School ( AOCS ) in 1976 . Surface warfare . In 1972 the pilot program for assignment of officers and enlisted women to ships was initiated onboard USS SANCTUARY ( AH - 17 ) . In 1978 Congress approved a change to Title 10 USC Section 6015 to permit the Navy to assign women to fill sea duty billets on support and noncombatant ships . The Surface Warfare community opened to women . In 1979 , the first woman obtained her Surface Warfare Officer ( SWO ) qualification . Aviation . In 1973 the Secretary of the Navy announced the authorization of naval aviation training for women . LTJG Judith Neuffer was the first woman selected for flight training . In 1974 , the Navy became the first service to graduate a woman pilot , LT Barbara Allen Rainey , followed closely by classmates Judith Neuffer , Ana Marie Fuqua , Rosemary Bryant Mariner , Jane Skiles O ' Dea and Joellen Drag . In 1979 the Naval Flight Officer ( NFO ) program opened to women . In 1979 , LT Lynn Spruill became the first woman Naval aviator to obtain carrier qualification . Submarines . On 29 April 2010 , the Department of the Navy announced authorization of a policy change allowing women to begin serving onboard Navy submarines . The new policy and plan was set to begin with the integration of female Officers . A group of up to 24 female Officers ( three Officers on each of eight different crews ) were scheduled to enter the standard nuclear submarine training pipeline in July 2010 – and expected to report to submarine duty by late 2011 or early 2012 . Integration of Enlisted females into submarine crews is expected to begin soon thereafter . Initial candidates for female Submarine Officer positions were highly qualified selects from accession sources that include the Naval Academy , Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps , STA - 21 program and Officer Candidate School , with transfers possible for those from other Unrestricted Line Officer communities . A group of up to eight female Supply Corps Officers was also expected to complete requisite training and begin submarine service in the same time frame . Initial assignments for female submariners were on the blue and gold crews of selected guided - missile submarines ( SSGN s ) and ballistic - missile submarines ( SSBNs ) . Two submarines of each type served as the inaugural vessels . The first group of U . S . female submariners completed nuclear power school and officially reported on board two ballistic and two guided missile submarines in November 2011 . In 2012 , it was announced that 2013 will be the first year women will serve on U . S . attack submarines . On June 22 , 2012 , a Sailor assigned to USS Ohio ( SSGN 726 ) became the first female supply officer to qualify in U . S . submarines . Lt . Britta Christianson of Ohio ' s Gold Crew received her Submarine Supply Corps " dolphins " from the Gold Crew Commanding Officer Capt . Rodney Mills during a brief ceremony at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility ( PSNS & IMF ) . On December 5 , 2012 , three Sailors assigned to USS Maine ( SSBN 741 ) and USS Wyoming ( SSBN 742 ) became the first female unrestricted line officers to qualify in U . S . submarines . Lt . j . g . Marquette Leveque , a native of Fort Collins , Colo . , assigned to the Gold Crew of Wyoming , and Lt . j . g . Amber Cowan and Lt . j . g . Jennifer Noonan [ ROTC Cornell University ] , a native of Scituate MA , both of Maine ' s Blue Crew received their submarine " dolphins " during separate ceremonies at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay , Ga . , and Naval Base Kitsap - Bangor , Wash . In 2013 , Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said that the first women to join Virginia - class attack subs had been chosen : They were newly commissioned female officers scheduled to report to their subs in fiscal year 2015 . Careers . In the Navy , women are currently eligible to serve in all ratings , except as a SEAL or Special Warfare Combatant - craft Crewman ( SWCC ) . In 2013 Leon Panetta removed the U . S . military ' s ban on women serving in combat , overturning a 1994 rule prohibiting women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units . Panetta ' s decision gives the U . S . military services until January 2016 to seek special exceptions if they believe any positions must remain closed to women . The services have until May 2013 to draw up a plan for opening all units to women and until the end of 2015 to actually implement it . The former policy set by Congress and the Secretary of Defense , effective 1 October 1994 , excluded women from direct ground combat billets in the military : Health & Fitness Standards . The Physical Fitness Assessment ( PFA ) is conducted twice a year for all sailors , which includes : Physical Readiness Test ( PRT ) . PRT is a series of physical activities designed to evaluate factors that enable members to perform physically . Factors evaluated are : PT Fitness Standards ( NSW / NSO programs only ) : Navy Family Life . Marriage . Spouse co - location assignments are fully supported by the Chief of Naval Personnel and when requested become the highest priority and main duty preference consistent with the needs of the Navy . While not always possible , every effort , with in reason , will be made for military couples and family members to move & serve together . Co - op assignments are not guaranteed . The service member requesting transfer to join with his / her spouse or family member must have a minimum of one year on board his / her present command at the time of transfer . Military couples may not be permanently assigned to the same ship or the same shipboard deployable command . For shore assignments , the couple will not assign to the same reporting senior without the gaining CO ’ s approval . Unusual circumstances may require a couple being temporarily assigned to the same afloat activity , which is allowable at the CO ’ s discretion Controversy . Pregnancy . In her 1995 book , Jean Zimmerman reported that there was a perception in the Navy that women sailors use pregnancy to escape or avoid deployed ship duty . In an example cited by Zimmerman , in 1993 as the USS " Cape Cod " prepared to depart on a deployment cruise , 25 female sailors , out of a crew of 1 , 500 , reported being pregnant shortly before the scheduled departure and were reassigned to shore duty . Although Zimmerman felt that the number of pregnancies was small and should not be regarded as significant , the senior enlisted person on the ship , Command Master Chief Alice Smith rejoined , " Just about every division has been decimated by the number of pregnancies . Now tell me that ' s not going to hurt a ship . " A 1997 study by the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center found that female sailors assigned to ships experienced higher pregnancy and abortion rates than shore - based female sailors . A Navy policy change in June 2007 extended post - partum tours of duty ashore from 4 months to 12 months . A Virginia Pilot article in October 2007 reported on the Navy ' s policy decision as a means to improve long term retention of trained personnel . The chief of women ' s policy for the chief of personnel noted that far more men than women fail to deploy or are sent back from deployment , " because of sports injuries , discipline issues or testing positive for drugs . " In 2009 , Andrew Tilghman reported in the Military Times on a Naval Inspector General ( IG ) report noting that , in the wake of this change , Navy shore commands based in Norfolk reported that 34 % of their assigned members were pregnant sailors reassigned from ship duty . Since shore - based assignments for pregnant sailors were extended in 2007 , the number of Navy women leaving deploying units to have children rose from 1 , 770 in June 2006 to 3 , 125 as of 1 August 2009 . Tilghman further reports that Navy Personnel Command is reviewing the report . Women on Submarines . In July 1994 , policy changes were made expanding the number of assignments available to women in the Navy . At this time , repeal of the combat exclusion law gave women the opportunity to serve on surface combatant ships but still excluded assignments for women to serve onboard submarines . Previously there had been concern about bringing women onto submarines because living quarters offered little privacy and weren ’ t considered suitable for mixed gender habitation . In October 2009 , the Secretary of the Navy announced that he and the Chief of Naval Operations were moving aggressively to change the policy . Reasons included the fact that larger SSGN and SSBN submarines now in the Fleet had more available space and could accommodate female Officers with little or no modification . Also , the availability of qualified female candidates with the desire to serve in this capacity was cited . It was noted that women now represented 15 % of the Active Duty Navy and that women today earn about half of all science and engineering bachelor ’ s degrees . A policy change was deemed to serve the aspirations of women , the mission of the Navy and the strength of its submarine force . In February 2010 , the Secretary of Defense approved the proposed policy and signed letters formally notifying Congress of the intended change . After receiving no objection , the Department of the Navy officially announced on 29 April 2010 , that it had authorized women to serve onboard submarines moving forward . The first group of U . S . female submariners completed nuclear power school and officially reported on board two ballistic and two guided missile submarines in November 2011 . Admirals . The first promotion of a woman in the United States Navy to flag rank occurred in 1972 .