Since the creation of the United States submarine force in the year 1900, no woman has ever been able to serve on board a submarine, despite the integration of women in general into the Navy and the fact that women have been serving on military surface ships since 1993. A submarine’s cramped quarters and the fact that its crew will need to serve at sea for months at a time in such accommodations have thus far hampered the consideration of allowing women on subs.
It looks like that is going to change, however, according to a feature on the Los Angeles Times. The Navy has expressed its intention to change its existing policy, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has notified Congress about it. Congress, in turn, will have thirty days to object to the Navy’s plans. While nothing is set in stone, the policy may go into effect as early as mid-April – assuming that neither the House nor the Senate makes a move to block the changes.
And congressional officials reveal that lawmakers are not likely to stand in its way. If anyone would try to block this new policy, it would have to be the Republicans – but they are at this time too busy trying to block the move to allow gays to serve openly in the military that they “would probably not expend time and effort on the issue.”
The Defense Secretary mentioned in its letter that the Navy will be employing a “phased approach” towards this shift in policy, initially allowing women to serve on larger submarines.
February 25th, 2010 - 6:11 am
I heard much discussion about this on talk shows with input from ‘old salts’ who had served on submarines. The opinions were that due to the close confinement and the young ages of the sailors, there are going to be immense challenges for all parties concerned in regards to allegations of harassment.
Women stated that they would not want an all-female crew.
Interesting topic to say the least.
February 25th, 2010 - 6:21 am
Another bad idea by Mike Mullins who is just a whipping boy for Commrad obama.
February 25th, 2010 - 6:22 pm
I am a X submariner. I served on diesel boats. In fact i lived a full tour (4) years on a diesel boat. Women have no business on the boats. To many temptations, and to serious a job situation, to be aware of a females odor next to you. Besides, you can`t bath everyday. A sub is a confined space and no place for female phu-phu filling your nasal cavities. I doubt the military budget will stand for the expense of making accomadations just for females to live aboard a submarine unless we lower the quality of the boats at construction as well as the quality of the crew. You have no time for female dreaming on the job. All these recommendations come from political desk pushers that are not qualified submariners. If a qualified sub officer would figure out how it could work, i might go along with him. So these Washington DC desk pushers do not know what they are taking about when they say “put woman on submarines”..
February 25th, 2010 - 7:15 pm
BZ to the Navy its about time that we allow every US citizen to serve their country any way they freely choose. The US Submarine Force is made up of the top 10% professional sailors in the Navy they will be professional in their integration of woman serving on board.
February 25th, 2010 - 10:01 pm
IT’S ABOUT TIME!
When I graduated with a degree in Nuclear Engineering in 1986, I wanted to join the Navy. But, being a woman I would not have been able to work on a submarine. I could see no point in being in the navy unless I was on a submarine. My career would have been severely limited without submarine experience. Additionally, I applied for a test engineer position at Portsmouth Naval shipyard, but denied the opportunity as I would not even be able to supervise the tests at sea. Finally I chose a career in commercial nuclear power. Even there the engineers with naval nuclear experience, especially submarines, had a clear advantage over us civilians.
February 26th, 2010 - 1:42 pm
Will they get preferential treatmeat , automatic promotions, etc etc like Navy Captain Holly Graff (relieved of command USS Cowpens)? Do they get to assault subordinates to make them feel more manly or is that being reviewed too?
SEE THE LATEST AT MILITARY CORRUPTION DOT COM.
February 28th, 2010 - 2:45 am
[...] a recent post, we shared with you the move of the Navy to lift the ban on women serving on submarines, the only [...]
March 1st, 2010 - 5:33 am
[...] Robert Gates has notified Congress of the Navy’s intention to change its policy regarding allowing women to serve on submarines, and the first crop of female submariners may come from the pool of female graduates of the U.S. [...]
March 8th, 2010 - 4:25 am
[...] Submarine Qualification and Recognition Program (SQRP) was begun “to indoctrinate all newly qualified enlisted and [...]
March 12th, 2010 - 5:57 pm
This integration is going to be like all the integrations of woman into the military. We old salts or SGT’s all take a same view, we don’t like change. What is the military if not many years of tradition unhampered by progress! Woman have made the transition into all areas of the military and they have done an outstanding job! I worked for the Intelligence Corps at NSA Field Sight’s and we heard the same thing, we are all going be locked in the same place and no one will pay attention to getting the job done. It was BS then and it is BS now. Woman have earned the right to take the same risks that men do. It is their choice and their career. We have never had a right to block them from service. Woman have done an outstanding job in most instances when confronted with Combat, this is just another hurdle that needs to be removed.
YOU GO GIRLS, and for the guys on submarines, Life is going to be much nicer in the future than it has been in the past.
Sgt. Rock
March 20th, 2010 - 10:41 am
What’s next, letting them join the Seals because it would be “Politically Correct”?
Women in the service are as useless as tits on a bull, and putting them on board a sub would be a distraction that 130 young men could not afford.