Page 24 - Mariner Winter 2023 Volume 65 Issue 3 Jan

NAVY NEWS

First Woman to Serve as a

Submarine XO Reports for Duty

From Petty Officer 2nd Class Molly Crawford, Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs
23 November 2022

“It’s 2022 and women are still full of dreams of becoming an aviator. Her eyesight kept
her grounded, but then the opportunity to be among the
doing the ‘first’ of things?” is how first women to serve aboard submarines opened up. It was
Lt. Cmdr. Amber Cowan started her conversation in the everything she was looking for, and she’s never looked back.
Public Affairs office at Submarine Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
NAVAL BASE KITSAP – BANGOR, Wash. (Nov. 18,
The submarine officer stopped by for an interview between 2022) Lt. Cmdr. Amber Cowan, the executive officer of
classes while completing the Submarine Command Course the gold crew of the Ohio-class ballistic-missile subma-
in Pearl Harbor. The Colorado Springs, Colo. native has rine USS Kentucky (SSBN 737), from Colorado Springs,
two grandfathers who served in the U.S. Air Force, and she Colorado, poses for a portrait at Deterrent Park onboard
attended the University of Washington on a scholarship Naval Base Kitsap – Bangor, November 18, 2022.
from the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps, her head Cowan is the first woman to serve as the executive officer

Above: NAVAL BASE KITSAP – BANGOR, Wash. (Nov. 18, 2022) Lt. Cmdr. Amber Cowan, the executive officer of the gold crew of the
Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine USS Kentucky (SSBN 737), from Colorado Springs, Colorado, poses for a portrait at Deterrent
Park onboard Naval Base Kitsap – Bangor, November 18, 2022. Cowan is the first woman to serve as the executive officer of a U.S. Navy
submarine. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brian G. Reynolds)

24 The Mariner • 2022 WINTER Edition • Volume 65 • Issue 3