Remembering RADM Fran McKee, Commanding Officer, NSGA Fort Meade, September 1973 to May 1976

Fran McKee was the first female line officer to hold the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States Navy.

She was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral (Lower Half) on June 1, 1976 and earned her second star in November 1978. Rear Admiral McKee was one of the first two women selected to attend the Naval War College, and was the first woman to command an activity of the Naval Security Group Command.

Rear Admiral McKee retired from the Navy in 1981, and died on March 3, 2002, aged 75, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage; she was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on April 8, 2002. A reception was held in the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington, Virginia. She was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in 2007.