National Submarine Day is celebrated on April 11 and honors the U.S. Navy's purchase of its first submarine on April 11, 1900. According to General Dynamics Electric Boat, the company has been designing and building submarines since 1899, beginning with USS Holland, the U.S. Navy's first commissioned undersea warship.

During the spring of 2022, Saray Checo received a technology leader award at a major conference hosted by Career Communications Group. Saray started at Electric Boat in 2015 as a structural engineer in waterfront engineering. She has advanced to new roles, including sea trials test supervisor, engineering and design liaison, and currently, engineering project lead for Columbia-class submarines. Saray is also president of EB's Hispanic Shipbuilding Association, an employee resource group.

" As an engineer at Electric Boat, I am inspired to learn, innovate and engage with my peers to ensure we are delivering the best possible product to the Navy," Saray said. "Being recognized for the hard work and achievements I have accomplished thus far is a huge morale booster for me to continue to perform my very best for Electric Boat."

More than a dozen Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) employees were recognized for their achievements in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) during the 26th annual Women of Color STEM Conference. HII is America's largest military shipbuilding company and provides professional services to partners in government and industry.

Lakela Lofton (photo inset), program manager of Newport News Shipbuilding, received the Managerial Leadership Award. The award honors women whose accomplishments in leading and managing serve as an example to women working to move beyond what is considered traditional roles for women.

According to the Navy's human resources website, women have been encouraged to join the Submarine Force since 2015. The first enlisted female earned her Dolphins in August 2016. In June 2021, the Navy's press office published a news story, "Women in Submarines: 10 years later," which traces how female officers had served throughout the Submarine Force since 2010 when females were officially allowed to do aboard submarines.

"The integration of women on submarines increased the talent pool available to the Submarine Force," said Lt. Sabrina Reyes-Dods, in the statement.

Continuing, the Women in Submarines (WIS) coordinator at Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic added that twenty percent of U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen and 28 percent of NROTC [Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps] midshipmen are women. With the ongoing challenge of recruiting highly trained officers, integrating women allowed the Submarine Force to attract the nation's best and brightest.

Formed in 2009, the Women in Submarines (WIS) Task Force provides flag officer oversight for the planning and execution of the Women in Submarines integration based on the timeline approved by the Chief of Naval Operations.

In 2016, the submarine force integrated its first command with enlisted female sailors."Integrating senior women first was a key lesson learned from integrating other Navy warfare communities," said Reyes-Dods. "Instead of first integrating at the lowest level as other communities did, we decided to pursue a top-down integration process to provide mentors and role models for younger women."

After a pause to evaluate retention, the Submarine Force expanded the WIS integration plan to include all homeports in 2020.

By 2030, the goal is to have 33 different crews integrated with officers across all platforms and all homeports. A similar pause for the enlisted women in submarines program is planned for 2023 to evaluate the continued expansion of enlisted female integration of the current plan of record of 14 crews.

"We hope that future generations of women will take inspiration from our current female submarine Sailors and officers to pursue their careers as submariners," said Reyes-Dods. "From its inception, female submariners have always wanted to be treated as submariners, not 'female submariners."