History has been made in the Royal Navy with the appointment of Lt Charlotte Atkinson as commanding officer of mine countermeasures vessel HMS Brecon.

The Hunt-class ship, currently engaged on Northern Ireland patrols with the 3rd Mine Countermeasures Squadron (MCM3) based at Faslane in Scotland, is the largest vessel yet to be commanded by a woman – and she is the only woman on board.

The 32-year-old officer from Southsea – Charlie to her friends – believes she will be “the first of many” as the group of women who joined the RN in the early and mid-90s reach the rank, experience and qualification levels needed to command front-line warships.

For the next 18 months Charlie, a keen sportswoman, will guide the 750-ton Brecon – which has been stripped of her minehunting equipment for her current tasking – through waters around Northern Ireland, preventing the smuggling of explosives and firearms in the Irish Sea and North Channel.

Eight women have already been given command of the Archer-class patrol boats which make up the bulk of the First patrol Boat Squadron, in the main serving the University RN Units (URNUs), but Brecon is a step up.

As the first female officer to command one of the Navy’s front-line warships, Lt Atkinson would prefer to keep a low profile, despite the media attention her appointment will inevitably bring.

“I don’t view myself as anything different from any of my male counterparts doing the job – there’s certainly no special treatment. I have the sea time, the experience, the skills. I am well-prepared for the job,” she said.

“I know there’s going to be interest because I’m the first to command such a ship, but I believe I’ll be the first of many.”

Lt Atkinson graduated with a BSc Hons in Geography and Topographic Science from the University of Wales, Swansea, and joined Britannia Royal Naval College in 1994.

She was Correspondence and Gunnery Officer in HMS Dumbarton in UK waters and off the coasts of the Falklands, and then took a Hydrographic and meteorological (HM) course before joining survey ship HMS Roebuck as Navigating Officer.

She has also served in HM ships Endurance and Herald, and in 2001 was appointed to New Zealand as the Hydrographic Exchange Officer, serving as Navigating Officer for the Royal New Zealand Navy’s survey vessel HMNZS Resolution.

When not at sea, she has represented the Royal Navy at hockey, tennis, cricket and kayaking, and is a canoe instructor.

“I’m going to thoroughly enjoy my 18 months in charge of Brecon. I have to learn a great deal and experience a great deal, but I also have to pass my experience to my crew,” Lt Atkinson said.

“I have a team of junior officers and junior members of the crew and I have to nurture them.”

Women have been going to sea in the RN for 14 years, so the prospect of a female commanding officer of a destroyer or frigate draws ever nearer.

Lt Cdr Vanessa Spiller was the first female Executive Officer of a major warship, HMS Kent in 2001-02, and the first female Head of Department (Commander) was appointed to a capital ship in July 2001.

Current figures show that women account for nine per cent of all RN personnel – 3,730 out of 41,348 – and eight per cent of the officer corps.

Nearly three out of four jobs in the RN are open to women; submarines, the Royal Marines General Service and the Clearance Diving branches are the notable exceptions.

The highest-ranking female officer in the Royal Navy is a commodore.