On 29 April 2010, the Department of the Navy announced authorization of a policy change allowing women to begin serving onboard Navy submarines.[20][21] The new policy and plan was set to begin with the integration of female Officers. A group of up to 24 female Officers (three Officers on each of eight different crews)[21] were scheduled to enter the standard nuclear submarine training pipeline in July 2010[22] – and expected to report to submarine duty by late 2011 or early 2012.[21] Integration of Enlisted females into submarine crews was expected to begin soon thereafter.[22][23]