Alene Duerk Rear Admiral Alene Bertha Duerk , USN , ( born March 29 , 1920 ) was the first woman to be selected for flag rank in the U . S . Navy and was advanced to that rank on June 1 , 1972 . She was Director of the United States Navy Nurse Corps from 1970 to 1975 . Early life . Alene Bertha Duerk was born in Defiance , Ohio , on March 29 , 1920 to Albert and Emma Duerk . She had nursing training at Toledo ( Ohio ) Hospital School of Nursing , from which she received her diploma in 1941 . Navy Nurse Corps career . On January 23 , 1943 , she was appointed Ensign in the Nurse Corps of the United States Navy Reserve . After receiving her commission in 1943 , she was assigned in March of that year as a Ward Nurse at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth , Portsmouth , Virginia . In January 1944 , she transferred , in a similar capacity , to the Naval Hospital , Bethesda , Maryland and in May 1945 joined the USS " Benevolence " ( AH - 13 ) . That vessel , anchored off Eniwetok , received the sick and wounded brought back from Third Fleet operations against Japan and later joined the Third Fleet for its last strikes against the enemy . After the cessation of hostilities , that hospital ship remained in Japanese waters , off Yokosuka , to assist in the processing of liberated Allied prisoners of war . The " Benevolence " returned to the United States with wounded servicemen in late - 1945 . Assigned in January 1946 to the Naval Hospital , Great Lakes , Illinois , Durek continued duty there until June of that year , when she was released from active naval service . She attended the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University , Cleveland , Ohio , from which she received the degree of Bachelor of Science in Ward Management and Teaching , Medical and Surgical Nursing , in 1948 . Employed as Supervisor and Instructor , Medical Nursing , at Highland Park ( Michigan ) General Hospital , she remained there until 1951 . While there , she joined a ready naval reserve unit in Detroit , Michigan , in 1948 . Ordered to return to active naval service , she reported in June 1951 , as a Ward Nurse at the Naval Hospital , Portsmouth , Virginia . Transferred in September 1951 to the Naval Hospital Corps School , Portsmouth , she was a Nursing Instructor there until October 1956 , when she became Interservice Education Coordinatorat the Naval Horpital , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . From June 1958 to May 1961 she served as Nurse Programs Officer at the Naval Recruiting Station , Chicago , Illinois , after which she had duty as Charge Nurse at the U . S . Naval Station Hospital , Subic Bay , Republic of the Philippines . In April 1962 she was assigned as Assistant Chief Nurse at the U . S . Naval Hospital , Yokosuka , Japan . During the period May 1963 to June 1965 she was the Senior Nurse Corps Officer at the Naval Station Dispensary , Long Beach , California . Following an assignment as Chief of the Nursing Branch at the Naval Hospital Corps School , San Diego , California , she reported in May 1966 as Assistant for Nurse Recruitment in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense ( Health and Medical ) , Washington , D . C . She remained there until May 1967 , then had duty until February 1968 as Assistant Head of Medical Placement Liaison ( Nurse Corps ) , Bureau of Naval Personnel , Navy Department . She next returned to the Naval Hospital , Great Lakes , where she became Director of the Navy Nurse Corps , Bureau of Medicine and Surgery , Navy Department . Advancing progressively in rank , she attained that of captain , to date from July 1 , 1967 , having transferred from the Naval Reserve to the U . S . Navy in December 1953 . Her selection for the rank of Rear Admiral was approved by the President on April 26 , 1972 . She is the first woman to be selected for flag rank in the U . S . Navy and was advanced to that rank on June 1 , 1972 . Rear Admiral Duerk retired in 1975 . Awards and decorations . Rear Admiral Duerk has been awarded : She was a 1974 recipient of a Distinguished Alumni Award of Case Western Reserve University ' s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing . Duerk received the following honorary degrees : See also . Women in the United States Navy