While the facts surrounding the kidnapping and rescue of the Maersk Alabama Captain Richard Phillips have been widely reported, less well-known is that ship which saved him was commanded by a black woman, Rear Admiral Michelle Howard.
Howard received the assignment of leading the U.S. Navy's counter-piracy
task force just three days before the Maersk Alabama was attacked by
Somalia pirates.
“It’s probably one of the most exciting missions the Navy has been on in
for a long while,†Howard told the Navy Times.
Howard is the first of her 1982 U.S. Naval Academy class to reach the
rank of admiral. In 1999, Howard became the first African-American woman
to command a U.S. Navy ship, the USS Rushmore.
She holds a masters degree in Military Science Arts and Sciences from
the Army’s Command and General Staff College.
Howard said the mission of her unit, Combined Task Force 151, will
remain deterring and disrupting piracy off the Horn of Africa.
http://www.afro.com/tabid/551/itemid/3500/Ship-commanded-by-Black-woman-admiral-rescued-Maer.aspx
