Starting from 2024, female Navy service members will be able to carry out duties aboard submarines for the first time in the nation’s history.

The Navy said on Friday that it decided during a policy meeting on Thursday to allow female sailors to serve on submarine crews.

The Navy will make selections next year and those selected will undergo training for roughly a year before deployment to a three-thousand-ton submarine from 2024.

The latest decision comes after the Navy first launched related discussions in 2014.

A total of 38 countries are operating submarines in the world and of that total 13, including the U.S., Australia, Canada and Japan, have female personnel on board.