http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htlead/20100202.aspx
Women Take Command At Sea

February 2, 2010: In the mid 1970s, the U.S. Navy began letting women
into Annapolis (the Naval Academy) and flight school. Some 35 years
later we have women commanding combat aircraft squadrons, cruisers, an
amphibious task force (expeditionary strike group) and a strike group
(a carrier task force.) For that last one, rear Admiral Nora Tyson
will assume command of the task force containing CVN USS George H W
Bush, later this year. All these are firsts. Another recent first was
the removal of a female captain of a warship for abusive treatment of
the crew, and her demeanor and temperament in general. The relieved
captain, of the cruiser USS Cowpens, was a 1985 Naval Academy
graduate, and she was relieved as she was at the end of her tour of
duty on the Cowpens, and in the process of turning over command to
another officer. The dismissed captain went off to her next
assignment, as a staff officer.
Two years earlier, F-18 pilot, Commander Sara Joyner, completed her
tour as the first female commander of a navy combat squadron (VFA
105). This included a seven month cruise to the Persian Gulf aboard
the USS Harry S. Truman, where her dozen F-18Cs flew about 412 hours
each. The squadron had 245 officers and sailors, including pilots and
maintenance personnel. The squadron commander flew combat missions, in
addition to running the squadron. Joyner had been in the navy since
1985, when she entered the Naval Academy. She was a flight instructor
in 1993, when the Department of Defense changed its policy and allowed
women to fly combat missions. Joyner has 3,000 hours in the F-18, and
600 carrier landings. Once women were allowed to fly combat aircraft,
it was only a matter of time before some of them rose to command
positions. Her husband is also a naval aviator, and she had a four
year old daughter. Her next assignment was a staff job in the
Pentagon.

Women have only been allowed on combat ships since 1994. About ten
percent of navy officers are female, as are nine percent of enlisted
personnel.