The Senate has voted to approve Admiral Lisa Franchetti to lead the US Navy, XQ  informs referring to BBC.

As Chief of Naval Operations she becomes the first woman to join the elite group of senior military officers who make up the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Her nomination was approved 95-1, as the Senate pushed to fill critical openings in military leadership.

One Republican senator has been trying to block military appointments in protest of the Pentagon's abortion policy.

The 38-year Naval veteran is the former head of the US 6th Fleet and US naval forces in South Korea, and has also served as an aircraft carrier strike commander.

Her nomination by President Joe Biden marked the first time a woman has been put forward to head a Pentagon military service branch.

The US Coast Guard is led by a woman - Admiral Linda Fagan - but that branch falls under the Department of Homeland Security rather than the Department of Defense.