A decade after women were allowed to serve in the US Navy’s Silent Service, Lt. Cmdr. Amber Cowan has become the first woman to serve as executive officer on a submarine.

Lt. Cmdr. Cowan, who joined the Navy in 2010, reported for duty to the ballistic missile submarine USS Kentucky, based out of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Washington, as its executive officer Nov. 12, as reported by Navy Times.

Cowan planned on becoming a naval aviator after graduating from the University of Washington, but her eyesight prevented her from qualifying. It prompted her to attend Nuclear Power School to become a submarine officer, which was barred to female officers until 2011.

“It’s 2022 and women are still doing the ‘first’ of things?” Cowan said, according to a Navy news release.

She first served aboard the ballistic missile submarine Maine, working as the main propulsion assistant, damage control assistant, and tactical systems officer. Cowan was subsequently assigned to the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine Texas as the engineering officer, and to the U.S. Submarine Forces Pacific Fleet, as the force radiological controls officer.

Navy Times also reports that Cowan isn’t the only woman in the submarine force to have made history recently.

In August, Master Chief Information Systems Technician (Submarine) Angela Koogler became the first woman to serve as a chief of the boat, the senior enlisted adviser to the commanding and executive officers. Koogler is assigned to the nuclear ballistic missile submarine Louisiana, also based out of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.