United States Navy Officer. Born in Columbus, Ohio, into a military family, McGrath was the first woman to command a military warship. In 1975 she graduated from the California State University in Sacramento, California, where she received a BS degree in Environmental Science. After graduating she worked for the United States Forestry Service until 1980 when she decided to follow in her father's footsteps, and entered the United States Air Force. That same year she was commissioned to the United States Navy after Officer Candidate School in Rhode Island. In 1983 McGrath began a tour of duty on the USS Prairie in the Western Pacific, became Operations Officer on board the USS Cape Cod in 1987, and served on the USS Concord in 1989, also as an Operations Officer, and later in Operation Desert Shield. In 1987 she received her MA in Educational Management from Stanford University in Stanford, Connecticut. In 1990 she took part in the operation intended to protest Saudi Arabia after Iraq invaded Kuwait, and served as Chief Staff Officer on the Destroyer Squadron Seven, deployed in the Western Pacific and the Arabian Gulf, as part of the Constellation Battle Group. In 1993 and 1994 she commanded the rescue and salvage ship, the USS Recovery. In 1998 McGrath became the first woman commander of a United States warship when she became in charge of the USS Jarrett, a 453-foot warship with a 262 member crew, which during a six-month long mission to the Persian Gulf looked for ships smuggling Iraqi oil that was in violation of United Nations Sanctions. After her tour of duty on board the USS Jarrett she served in the Joint Advanced Warfighting Unit in Alexandria, Virginia. McGrath was honored many times including, being awarded, the Legion of Merit, 4 Meritious Service Medals and the California State Univerisity, Sacramento, California Association's Distinguished Service Award in 2001. McGrath was awarded the rank of Captain in May 2002, but retired in August 2002 due to ill health. She died on September 26, 2002, at the age of 50, from the effects of lung cancer and was given a full military funeral and burial at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.