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She's the Boss

By Mark Thompson

"Put the bridge right there where the orange sign is!" the Navy skipper barks at a rookie officer. The warship U.S.S. Jarrett has pulled into port in San Diego, California, after a training voyage. The crew's attempt to put a 453-foot vessel alongside a 1,335-foot pier-backward-is not exactly smooth sailing.

A sailor dawdles while writing the commander's orders on a blackboard. "Hey!" the commander snaps. "Pay attention." When a second seaman radios a command, the skipper coolly reminds the crew who gives the orders around here. After careful maneuvering, Jarrett's hull gently kisses the pier bumpers. Home free!

The crew gathers around the commander. "We got to stress all areas today-navigation, communication and ship handling-and you did it well," the commander says proudly.

The huddle melts away, and sailors stream onto the pier. Two little kids and their dad are headed the other way, up the gangplank toward the commander's cabin. "Did you see Mommy's ship come in? Did you see me wave?" Commander Kathleen McGrath asks as she hugs Nick, 3, and Clare, 2, for the first time in 10 days. Their mom is the big boss.

You Go, Commander!
March is Women's History Month, a fitting time for McGrath, 47, to make history herself. On March 31, she becomes the first woman commander to lead a U.S. warship to sea. Jarrett and a crew of 259 men and four women are headed for the Persian Gulf. Their mission: to hunt down ships smuggling oil out of Iraq.

Women served as Navy nurses as early as 1812, but could not serve on board most support ships until 1978. Only in 1994 did they get to serve on warships like the missile-packing, torpedo-shooting Jarrett.

Some critics say female sailors still shouldn't command warships-that fighting wars is a man's job. "These are not female jobs," says Dudley Carlson, a retired three-star admiral. "Women simply do not measure up." He says most women sailors are weaker than men, so they might endanger the lives of other sailors in a war.

Even on her ship, not everyone is wild about McGrath's taking charge. "Most of us would prefer to take orders from a male officer," admits Personnelman First Class Arnell Ramos. Others are worried that she lacks experience on a warship. Then there are more minor complaints: "You can't walk around in your underwear anymore," gripes a sailor.

The Best Person for the Job
But no one doubts that McGrath is a first-rate officer with the same qualities that make a man a good commander: she's smart, focused, experienced, and she loves her country. "I don't try to do what a guy would do," she says. "I have to be myself."

Her fellow sailors say she's a bit less formal than most male commanders. The ship's cook, Brian Russell, was surprised when McGrath invited him and some other senior sailors to her home for a barbecue. Past commanders had invited him to parties as a cook "but never as a person," he says. "I thought it was great."

McGrath's biggest worry is not about her popularity. She wants her six-month mission to go smoothly. Sailors will go aboard suspicious ships in international waters and inspect them for smuggled oil. If a ship's crew doesn't appreciate the invasion, it might spark trouble.

McGrath simply dreads the long separation from her kids. "It's real hard being away," she says. Like other Navy dads and moms, she will make videos of herself reading stories to send to Nick and Clare. She and her husband, retired Navy officer Greg Brandon, adopted the children from Russia last year.

Brandon left the Navy in 1996, and now works taking care of the kids. He is proud of his wife, whom he met at a Navy school in 1987. "She doesn't like to toot her own horn, so I sort of have to reach over and do it for her," he says.

McGrath won't be the last woman warship commander. Women are moving up the Navy's ranks fast. By 2004, an average crew will be 12% female. Some snipe that McGrath was made commander just to show that the Navy is changing its ways. She ignores the talk and sails on.

"She's not in command because she's a woman," says Jarrett's Lieut. Commander Joseph Chiaravallotti. "She's in command because she's better than everyone who's not in command."

Next: Get Ready for the Main Event!