New Delhi: An American Navy Captain has broken the glass ceiling by becoming the first woman in history to command a nuclear aircraft carrier.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Friday that Captain Amy Bauernschmidt assumed charge of one of US Navy’s largest warships, the Abraham Lincoln, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, on Thursday in San Diego.
Amy Bauernschmidt who belongs to the state of Wisconsin had served as executive officer of the Lincoln between 2016 and 2019 — another first for a woman, the report said.
According to the US Navy site, Bauernschmidt has also commanded the amphibious transport dock USS San Diego, and the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 70.
“There is no more humbling sense of responsibility than to know you are entrusted with the care of the people who have chosen to protect our nation,” reads a statement from Bauernschmidt available on the US Navy site.
The warship’s permanent location is at the Naval Air Station North Island in the San Diego Bay area and it made its way to its new home in San Diego last January following a 10-month cruise around the world starting from its previous homeport in Norfolk in Virginia.
The ship is one of the eleven US Navy carriers on active duty and was recently upgraded to operate with the Navy’s latest aircraft, the CMV-22B Osprey and the F-35C fighter.
The Lincoln will again be deployed in the “coming months” with a Marine F-35 squadron, the newspaper said.
(Edited by Paramita Ghosh)
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