For the first time in United States history, a woman now leads a branch of the Armed Forces.

Adm. Linda Fagan on Wednesday took command of the U.S. Coast Guard from retiring Adm. Karl Schultz. 

Delivering remarks at the change of command ceremony at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, President Joe Biden said, “It’s about time” the glass ceiling was shattered.

“The secretary of defense, when he sent me the name, I said, ‘What in the hell took you so long?’” Biden said in jest.

“With a trailblazing career, Adm. Fagan shows that, young people entering the service, we mean what we say: There are no doors closed to women,” the president continued.

Fagan graduated from the Coast Guard in 1985, just its sixth class that included women. She climbed through the ranks, serving on all seven continents along the way.

Fagan, who was born in Columbus, Ohio, had been the Coast Guard’s vice commandant — second in command — since June 2021.

When Fagan graduated from the academy, women accounted for 8% of her class. Today, about 40% of graduates are female. 

“Now we need to keep working to make sure Adm. Fagan may be the first, but not the only person,” Biden said. “We need to see more women at the highest levels of command in the Coast Guard and across every service in the Armed Forces.”

In her speech, Fagan, the 27th commandant of the Coast Guard, did not mention her history-making status as the first woman to lead the service. She told Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who also spoke at the ceremony, that she’s “committed to executing your priorities and our department's missions through a unity-of-effort approach with all of our partner agencies.”

Fagan thanked her parents, recounting when she was 16 years old and told them she wanted to attend the Coast Guard Academy.

“Like all good parents, they said, ‘Oh, she'll outgrow it,’” she said. “And I did not.”

She also discussed the need for the Coast Guard to keep pace in a a changing world that includes new technology and changes in the geopolitical landscape. 

“This transformation is an investment in you,” Fagan told the Coast Guardsmen in attendance. “Without you, steel does not move, lives are not saved, and our national prosperity and security are at risk. 

“You are the world's best Coast Guard. I am honored and humbled to serve alongside you as we look to the future.”

Schultz retires after serving as commandant for the past four years.

“Little did I know that this was going to be anything but a conventional four-year race with that baton in hand.” he said, citing challenges that included a government shutdown that forced Coast Guardsmen to work unpaid for a time, civil unrest in 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Against this backdrop, your Coast Guard exercised decisional agility and demonstrated the toughness and a resiliency, as well as a renewed bias for action and a sense of purpose towards mission accomplishment,” he said. “I am forever grateful for their commitment.”