Leading the U.S. Naval Academy was never smooth sailing for Vice Adm. Yvette Davids, the first female superintendent in the Annapolis military college’s 180-year history.

After being nominated in 2023 by then-President Joe Biden, Davids had to wait six months to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, her nomination held up with more than 250 others by a defiant Alabama senator angry over abortion laws.

When Davids finally took the helm of the service academy, she faced immediate challenges: a report showing a doubling of sexual assaults at the academy before her arrival, a new president insistent on replacing the board that oversees the college and a ban on more than 400 books at the school’s library following a Department of Defense order.

Now Davids is facing a surprising end to her tumultuous term as superintendent: 18 months after she took command, the Pentagon confirmed she is being removed, signaling another Trump-era change. To replace her, President Donald Trump nominated Lt. Gen. Michael Borgschulte, who would be the first Marine to lead the academy. The move is especially disappointing to some female graduates of the academy, who saw Davids, a 1989 alumna, as a trailblazer at a male-dominated institution.

“I’m devastated, I feel like I’m in shock,” said Marjorie Morley Bachman, who was in the first graduating class of women at the academy in 1980. “There’s no reasoning for this. It’s completely wrong.”

Bachman said she was “so excited” when Davids was announced as the first female superintendent.

“When I was a midshipman, we had to conform to the men’s way of doing everything and we had to fit the male mold of a leader,” she said. “It was incredible to watch the transformation and see that women officers can incorporate their own strength and femininity into leadership roles.”

Bachman wasn’t alone in her disappointment.

“I speak for a lot of female alumni. We were really looking forward to see what her print on the academy would be,” said Maureen Kane, a 2008 graduate of the Naval Academy who served 11 years in the armed forces, first as a helicopter pilot who deployed twice overseas and later as an instructor at her alma mater. “You can’t do that when you’re not allowed to finish half the job.”

The feeling of disappointment stands in sharp contrast to the excitement that surrounded Davids’ installation in January 2024. At a change-of-command ceremony, then-Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro called Davids “the very representative of everything that makes America special.”

Davids conveyed her enthusiasm in a statement at the time: “In the lasting words of Navy legend Admiral Grace Hopper, who in 1985 spoke to my Plebe Class, ‘A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for. Sail out to sea and do new things,’ which we will do together. I look forward to the exceptional semesters, moments, and experiences we will share.”

Davids’ sudden departure is unusual.

Typically, superintendents are expected to lead the academy for three to four years. Davids had served only 18 months when the decision was announced Friday. The superintendent of a service academy usually must retire after serving in the position. The last time a superintendent did not serve a full three years was in 2003, when Vice Adm. Richard J. Naughton stepped down for “embarrassing and humiliating subordinates.”

U.S. Rep. Sarah Elfreth, an Annapolis Democrat who is a member of the academy’s Board of Visitors, did not touch on the suddenness of the removal in a statement Friday.

“I thank the Vice Admiral for her sincere investment in our midshipmen and her outstanding service to our nation,” Elfreth wrote. “She played a critical role in the history of the Academy as its first female Superintendent, and I look forward to seeing all she accomplishes at her next post.”

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who is also on the academy’s board, did not respond to requests for comment. He made headlines this year for his attempt to return the banned books to the academy’s Nimitz Library. Most of the 400 banned books ultimately were returned to the shelves, only two months before Davids’ departure was announced.

Davids will continue to serve as superintendent until the Senate confirms her and Borgschulte for their new roles. Once confirmed, she will serve as a deputy chief of naval operations, which is considered a lateral move.

“I’m honored to be nominated as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans, Strategy, and Warfighting Development,” Davids said in a statement released by the Pentagon. “I look forward to continuing to serve alongside America’s strongest warfighters.”

Pentagon officials offered no explanation for why Davids was reassigned midway through her tenure.

“I don’t see how this could be anything but politically motivated,” Bachman, one of the first female graduates of the academy, said. “They think that women can’t be warriors, even though women have proven that we can fight for years.”

Kane attributed the move to the Trump administration’s effort to purge the armed forces of diversity, equity and inclusion, and Hegseth’s efforts to re-create its image. Before becoming defense secretary, Hegseth had questioned whether women should have combat roles and complained that the promotion of DEI by service academy leaders had left the military weak and “effeminate,” the Associated Press reported.

“Hegseth’s initiative with the military has been without a doubt to put forward this macho warfighter image,” she said of the former Fox News host. “With the selection that they made, they certainly nailed it. It’s a Marine. That’s unprecedented, but when you think of a warfighter, you think of Marines.”

Kane added that the optics align with what the Trump administration prioritizes, compared to Davids, a petite woman. She’s “probably tough as nails,” Kane said, but “you don’t visually maybe get that same [tough] image.”

Bachman said she will miss seeing a woman at the helm of the academy she helped integrate — a change that was 178 years in the making. Davids, who is married to a retired rear admiral, was also the first Hispanic person to serve as superintendent.

“It feels like all the progress that women and minorities have made is now being backpedaled,” she said with a sigh. “It’s just devastating to see.”

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