White House Appoints First Female CNO
 

Aviation relevance - she commanded Carrier Strike Groups 9 and 15 and served aboard the USS George Washington..

https://news.usni.org/2023/07/21/bre...-indo-pacom-co

The Biden administration nominated the current Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti to be the next Chief of Naval Operations…

If confirmed by the Senate, Franchetti will serve as the 33rd Chief of Naval Operation, succeeding current CNO Adm. Mike Gilday, who is set to retire.“Lisa Franchetti will bring 38 years of dedicated service to our nation as a commissioned officer, including in her current role of Vice Chief of Naval Operations,” reads a statement from the White House.

“Throughout her career, Adm. Franchetti has demonstrated extensive expertise in both the operational and policy arenas. She is the second woman ever to achieve the rank of four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and when confirmed, she will again make history as the first woman to serve as the Chief of Naval Operations and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”…

Franchetti is a career surface warfare officer who came up on destroyers. She has served as the VCNO since last year. Franchetti was recently head of the J5 Strategic Plans and Policy on the Joint Staff. She was first commissioned into the Navy in 1985 through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at Northwestern University, according to her biography.

She was head of the Navy’s warfighting development office on the chief of naval operations staff, led U.S. 6th Fleet in Europe and Africa, commanded U.S. Naval Forces Korea, Carrier Strike Groups 9 and 15, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 21 and guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG-71).

At sea, Franchetti has served aboard USS Shenandoah (AD-44), USS Monongahela (AO-178), USS Moosbrugger (DD-980), USS Stout (DD-55) and the George Washington Carrier Strike Group.

Biden ignored Sec Def's advice and nomination Adm Paparo - the current Command US Pacific Fleet - his bio and comparison here:

Admiral Samuel Paparo (navy.mil)

Austin recommends Pacific leader as next Navy chief, passing over female admiral - POLITICO

The appointment is of course subject to Senate confirmation and there will probably be some hard questioning during the hearings.

Both are good contenders, one breaks a glass ceiling. Her experience on surface warships, strategic plans, policy and war fighting, as well as command of major surface combatants has considerable depth. His is centric originally to naval aviation, but still covers a fair bit as CIC PACFLT

The job of Combatant Commander and CNO are very different. The CNO measures success by improving the structure and policies of the USN in both personnel and equipment. Winning the inside the beltway knife fights over money and influence is a function of who you know and how well you can work the system. Adm Franchetti has a better resume than Adm Paparo in this regard. That is not meant to diminish the record of Adm Paparo, just to note that he excelled in effective utilization of naval power, not in its acquisition.

Thanks for that succinct explanation, BPF.