Meet Michelle Janine Howard, The first black female four-star U.S. Navy officer

Michelle Janine Howard, July 1, became the first female four-star officer in the history of the U.S. Navy and she is also the first African-American female officer to achieve four-star ranking in the history of the military.

Howard was promoted to the position of vice chief of naval operations at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Smith will also be the first African-American woman to command a ship in the U.S. Navy. (That’s a lot of first for her)

The Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, who administered the oath of office while speaking at the event said,“Michelle Howard’s promotion to the rank of admiral is the result of a brilliant naval career, one I fully expect to continue when she assumes her new role as vice chief of naval operations, but also it is a historic first, an event to be celebrated as she becomes the first female to achieve this position.

“Her accomplishment is a direct example of a Navy that now, more than ever, reflects the nation it serves—a nation where success is not born of race, gender or religion but of skill and ability.”

Howard, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1982 and from the Army’s Command and General Staff College in 1998.

Howard is best known for leading the Task Force, which saved merchant marine Captain Richard Phillips when he was captured by Somali pirates in April 2009 and a radio voice identified as Admiral Howard is included in the 2013 film, Captain Phillips.