Mission accomplished: RFA's only female engineer in 1998 now leading entire branch

Kate Morgan joined the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1998 and being the only female engineer at the time her goal to "get to the top" seemed an unlikely one.

But 28 years later, Commodore Morgan has done it, becoming the first woman to lead the RFA's engineering branch.

The appointment as Commodore (E) is another first in her career.

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She was the RFA's first qualified female engineer and later became its first female commodore.

Now, as Commodore (E), she holds the RFA's most senior engineering post.

The RFA is a Merchant Navy organisation of civilian-crewed ships that provide logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines.

Her route into engineering at sea began by chance.

While working at a hotel near Cardigan, she met an RFA chief steward whose stories about travelling the world, accompanied by a few recruitment leaflets, prompted her to consider a career on the waves.

What followed was almost three decades spent working across much of the RFA flotilla, gaining engineering and leadership qualifications.

For the past few years she served as Captain (E), but now she has the job she set her sights on at the beginning of her career.

"I think my younger self was committed to the practical engineering side and hadn't thought much wider than that until I began to understand early on that there were other possibilities," Cdre Morgan said.

"I've always been ambitious and have seized challenging opportunities where I could, to try to develop my understanding as well as try to make a difference."

Women in the top ranks 

Cdre Morgan is not the only woman breaking into positions once occupied exclusively by men.

Her promotion comes amid a wider, if still gradual, increase in the number of women reaching senior positions across UK Defence.

When she joined the RFA in 1998, women had been serving aboard Royal Navy surface ships for only eight years. 

They were still excluded from submarines, the infantry, the Royal Marines and other ground close-combat roles.

The first three women qualified as Royal Navy submariners in 2014, while the remaining ground close-combat roles opened to women in late 2018.

Progress at the top came later still, with the Royal Navy appointing its first female admiral only in 2022, when Jude Terry became a rear admiral.

Two years later, General Dame Sharon Nesmith became the first woman in the Armed Forces to reach four-star rank.

She is now Vice Chief of the Defence Staff and deputises for the Chief of the Defence Staff.

Women also hold three-star appointments, with Air Marshal Suraya Marshall currently serving as Deputy Commander of Cyber & Specialist Operations, while Air Marshal Clare Walton served as Chief of Defence Medical until her retirement in July 2026.

And in March this year, the British Army reached another milestone, becoming the first Armed Forces service to have a woman serving at every one of its 18 ranks, from recruit to four-star general.