US President Joe Biden has chosen Admiral Lisa Franchetti to lead the navy, a senior administration official has said.
If confirmed, she would be the first woman to be a US military service chief.
Mr Biden’s decision to choose Ms Franchetti, an admiral with broad command and executive experience, goes against the recommendation of his Pentagon chief, but he is selecting an officer whom insiders had considered the top choice for the job.
Ms Franchetti, the current vice chief of operations for the navy, would become the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recommended that Mr Biden select Admiral Samuel Paparo, the current commander of the Navy’s Pacific Fleet, several US officials said last month.
But instead, the administration official said Mr Biden is nominating Mr Paparo to lead US Indo-Pacific Command. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the nomination has not been made public.
The administration official said Mr Biden chose Ms Franchetti based on the broad scope of her experience at sea and ashore, including a number of high-level policy and administrative jobs.
Ms Franchetti’s nomination will join the list of hundreds of military moves that are being held up by Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
He is blocking confirmation of military officers in protest of a Defence Department policy that pays for travel when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care.
Ms Franchetti is expected to serve as the acting chief beginning next month when Admiral Michael Gilday, the current top navy officer, retires as planned.
Several woman have served as military service secretaries as political appointees, but never as their top uniformed officer. Admiral Linda L Fagan is currently the commandant of the Coast Guard. She, however, is not a member of the Joint Staff.
A surface warfare officer, Ms Franchetti has commanded at all levels, heading US 6th Fleet and US Naval Forces Korea.
She was the second woman to be promoted to four-star admiral, and she undertook multiple deployments, including as commander of a naval destroyer and two stints as aircraft carrier strike group commander.
Mr Paparo, who if confirmed would replace Admiral John Aquilino, is a naval aviator and a TOPGUN graduate with more than 6,000 flight hours in navy fighter jets and 1,100 landings on aircraft carriers. He was commissioned into the navy in 1987.
Prior to his Pacific tour, he was commander of naval forces in the Middle East, based in Bahrain, and also previously served as director of operations at US Central Command in Florida.
The administration official said Mr Biden will also nominate Vice Admiral James Kilby to be the vice chief of the Navy.
