“STARS AND STRIPES” By Alison Bath
“The first woman ever to command a U.S. aircraft carrier is slated to become a one-star admiral, the Navy recently announced.
Capt. Amy Bauernschmidt, commander of USS Abraham Lincoln, has been nominated for the rank of rear admiral, the service said in a statement Friday.“
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“Two other women, Capt. Julie Treanor and Capt. Dianna Wolfson, also are on the promotion list.
Treanor is the chief of staff for the director of supply, ordnance and logistics operations in the office of the chief of naval operations. Wolfson is commander of Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va.
They will join about 21 other female sailors, including a four-star admiral, who are among the service’s most senior officers, according to data on the Navy’s website.
Women make up about 6.8% of active-duty officers in the Navy’s highest ranks, according to the Defense Department’s 2021 annual demographics report.
About one-fifth of all active-duty sailors are women, according to the report, which was released in December.
Bauernschmidt took command of Abraham Lincoln in August 2021 after previously serving as the ship’s executive officer. A 1994 graduate of the Naval Academy, she earned a master’s degree from the Naval War College and was designated a pilot in 1996.
A Milwaukee native, she has 3,000 flight hours and has served as commanding officer of the amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego, among other assignments, according to her Navy biography.
Other nominees for promotion to admiral include at least one other aircraft carrier commander, Capt. Paul Lanzilotta of the USS Gerald R. Ford, according to the statement.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alison Bath reports on the U.S. Navy, including U.S. 6th Fleet, in Europe and Africa. She has reported for a variety of publications in Montana, Nevada and Louisiana, and served as editor of newspapers in Louisiana, Oregon and Washington.
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