Darlene M. Iskra |
![Image of Darlene M. Iskra](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090114130954im_/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/afc2001001/service/03482/ph0001001i.jpg)
Darlene Iskra aboard the USS Opportune | Persian Gulf War, 1990-1995
Navy
USS Hector (AR 7); USS Opportune (ARS 41)
Alameda, California; San Diego, California; Norfolk, Virginia; Washington, DC; Port Said, Egypt; Guam (Mariana Islands)
Commander
San Francisco, CA
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090114130954im_/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/afc2001001/vhp-stories/web/images/ex-war-card-bottom.gif) |
When Darlene Iskra enlisted in the Navy in 1979, her ambitions were modest; she was 27, coming off a divorce, her life in need of a jump start. She unwittingly caught a wave of change in that service, becoming one of the first women to graduate from dive school. Her talent for supervision and her tenacity won her a loyal following in the higher echelons of the Navy, and in December 1990, she became the first woman to take command of a U.S. Navy ship, aptly named the Opportune. Though her ship was on stand-by duty during the Persian Gulf War, Iskra's name was already secure in Naval history.
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