Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
Navy Allows Women On Submarines In 2011
Share:
by Annina Bergman | October 6, 2009 at 01:55 pm
271 views | 17 Recommendations | 9 comments
Photos
The United States Navy will let women serve on submarines starting in 2011. Female officers will start training for submarine duty next year, but will still not be allowed on attack submarines.
According to the Navy, women were not allowed to serve on submarines before due to the "limited habitability and privacy" aboard a submarine. But Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, said he has been working together with Chief of Naval Operations Administrator Gary Roughead since March to allow women the same opportunity to serve on submarines as men have.
At first, women will be serving on larger ballistic- and guided missile submarines. The Navy will work on getting women on attack submarines in the future.
Women and men were segregated on all surface combat ships and aircraft until the early 1990s, but concerns about mixing women and men for long periods of time under water in closed quarters has kept women off submarines. There is only one lavatory on most submarines, and Gary Roughead suggested the Navy may have to implement time-sharing agreements when it comes to using setting up a system to use them with two sexes on the boat.
"We are moving out aggressively on this. I believe women should have every opportunity to serve at sea, and that includes aboard submarines."
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Crowd Power
shank27_2005
Smithtown, New York, United States
Related Stories
Recommendations (17)
Babel-Fish
Negros Oriental, Philippines
sara star
Halifax, NS, Canada
Hugh Askew
Omaha, Nebraska, United States
smkovalinsky
New York, New York, United StatesAnonymous user
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (9)
at 14:35 on October 6th, 2009
Wonder if they will top the pregnancy rate on the aircraft carriers?
at 15:59 on October 6th, 2009
I did not know they couldn't.
at 17:35 on October 6th, 2009
I didn't know it either! But apparently soon they can.
at 11:12 on October 7th, 2009
And soon, 20% of them that do, will become pregnant.
at 11:46 on October 7th, 2009
They should read my Top 10 Reasons NOT to get Pregnant story before they board the sub. LOL...otherwise, it's going to be a long leave!
at 13:54 on October 7th, 2009
Yup, they get a year of shore leave...pretty rugged.
I've been thru four pregnancies with my wife....they're kinda-sorta fun, till her feet start hurting. And labor? HORRORS!
- reply
Anonymous Submariner (not verified)at 09:55 on October 9th, 2009
As US submariner who has served on a submarine with women and several 688's without, certain things will happen generally speaking:
1. overall the crew comradrie will go down b/c men and women just don't bond in the same way and it will cause divisions
2. the "time-sharing" solution will be a pain in the ass for everyone, especially the enlisted crew and the officers on the same watch rotation as the women
3. romantic issues statistically will be a small problem but will be blown out of proportion for a long time to come and I will feel sorry the first poor bastard to accidently say the wrong thing and have his career ruined as an example.
4. many details will be overlooked by those implementing the policies b/c they have not served on submarines ever or it was so long ago the memory of the extremes endured has faded. Those details will have to be supplied by individual commands adding yet another paperwork and manpower requirement for overworked crews to deal with
5. Lastly, damn the woman who gets pregnant on a submarine able to be deployed and to hell with any women's libber who thinks that's the wrong thing to say.
- reply
wife of a submariner (not verified)at 22:45 on October 16th, 2009
I absolutly agree with everything you said here. There are some things in life women don't need to be apart of, this is one of them. It is crap to say that everything between women and men should be equal, it never has been and never will....get OVER it girls, and I really think after spending 6-9 months in such close quarters with so many smelly men, might make them change thier minds! This is a bad idea, and I hope that it never actually happens!!!! All of these liberal women need to get over themselves!
at 23:05 on October 16th, 2009
Why not have submarines for women only and ones for men only oh yes and ones for gays only. That one toilet and the pregnancy problem is then surmounted.
Then of course there's the problem of the submarines name we must be politically correct, lol
The men's could remain as they are.
The name of the women only subs would need to be changed using famous women politicians such as "Hilary Clinton".
The name the gays subs kind of flummoxes me perhaps some suggestions from those that know gay US politicians can help?