{"id":45919,"date":"2023-12-11T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/12\/11\/how-repealing-combat-ship-exclusion-laws-led-franchetti-to-become-cno\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:58:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:58:56","slug":"how-repealing-combat-ship-exclusion-laws-led-franchetti-to-become-cno","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2023\/12\/11\/how-repealing-combat-ship-exclusion-laws-led-franchetti-to-become-cno\/","title":{"rendered":"How repealing combat ship exclusion laws led Franchetti to become CNO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thirty years ago, <\/b>then-Lt. Lisa Franchetti eagerly awaited word on when she\u2019d finally get her chance to serve aboard a combatant ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the Navy\u2019s 33rd chief of naval operations, Adm. Franchetti and other women in the Navy at the time were barred from serving aboard combatant ships and aircraft \u2014 simply because they were women. Instead, they could only go to sea aboard non-combatant ships like destroyer tenders, and spots were limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Franchetti remained hopeful she\u2019d get her shot in 1993, when President Clinton\u2019s Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin, urged Congress to pass a law repealing laws barring women from serving aboard combatants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as the year continued without any changes or updates, Franchetti recalled feeling \u201cfrustrated\u201d when she instead received an assignment to an ammunition ship that delivered cargo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt like I was right on the cusp of the law changing, but I said, \u2018Maybe it\u2019ll change next time,\u2019\u201d Franchetti told Navy Times in an exclusive interview from her office at the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\t