SecNav, CNO: Women should serve on subs

[ccharles000]

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/09/navy_roughead_subs_092409w/

Women should be allowed to serve aboard submarines, and the Navy is “moving out aggressively” to make it happen, according to the service’s top civilian.

“I believe women should have every opportunity to serve at sea, and that includes aboard submarines,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said Thursday in a statement to Navy Times.

His comment comes one week after Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen told congressional lawmakers that he thought it was time to end the ban against women on submarines.

Mullen’s successor, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, also said he is “very comfortable” addressing the crewing policy.

“There are some particular issues with integrating women into the submarine force; issues we must work through in order to achieve what is best for the Navy and our submarine force,” Roughead said in a statement. “Accommodations are a factor, but not insurmountable.”

Navy Times requested responses from Mabus and Roughead after Mullen called for ending the ban, which was part of submitted answers to written questions posed by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

[Captain Hilts]

1. It's demographics. There are not enough smart folks who are trainable and want to work on subs.

The USN is short 400+ nook-trained officers and 900 enlisted.

Women would fit on subs and eat less, both of which are uniquely practical in the sub service.

[Obamanaut]

5. Interesting history on wiki re SS407

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Sea_Robin_(SS-407)

[Captain Hilts]

6. Fastest boat outta Groton, to the day it was cut into razorblades. nt

[BOSSHOG]

2. Okay SECNAV, when ya gonna say its okay for Gays to serve?

[Captain Hilts]

10. Oddly enough, it's not nearly the issue in the sub service as elsewhere in the military.

Even the hardassed conservatives I read on sub discussion boards are able to relate gay crewmates without discomfort or hostility. The general philosophy is that if you've got the smarts and wherewithall to become a submariner, you are a member of that club no matter what.

In a sub you pee by yourself and shower by yourself, so while you lose some privacy, you gain other forms of privacy that render a lot of issues moot.

[undeterred]

3. Horny seamen.

That's the real reason.

[Obamanaut]

4. No horny seawomen? nt

[lame54]

11. living inside a long phallic object

[dysfunctional press]

7. what's long and hard and full of seamen?

:silly:

why not staff a couple subs with JUST women...?

[Captain Hilts]

12. It's certainly a possibility. nt

[Tim01]

8. There will be lots of pregnancies and a lot more rapes than anybody will admit to. nt

[Captain Hilts]

9. On a sub there isn't much room to be sexually anything. And, even right now,

you pee by yourself and shower by yourself, so submariners don't do collective nudity as elsewhere in the military services.

Where there's a will, there's a way, but it's MUCH tougher on a sub.

[Tim01]

13. It's also a lot more isolated.

Maybe subs are indeed different than surface vessels, but when I was in the boats that had women were nicknamed "love boats". Pregnancies, rapes, and prostitution.

[Captain Hilts]

14. True. Carriers are like cities with all the problems. I think the VULCAN out of Little Creek

was the first to have women.

The problem with the sub service is really about the officers corps that no longer has as large a pool to draw from because smart guys and USNA students who could not pass the vision tests to go aviation, now have surgery performed and can do so. So, the sub service lost a good chunk of its pool of potential officers. They've got a real problem.

[Captain Hilts]

15. The sub service has, traditionally, had a MUCH higher standard of

accountability for everything.

The fudging of reactor monitoring papers suggests that's not so much the case any more, but the standards still seem substantially higher than in the surface fleet.

We'll see.

[TexasObserver]

16. Makes perfect sense.

Women are generally smaller, and therefore can be more comfortable in tighter quarters and consume less food and water. The jobs are technical, not requiring size or brawn, for the most part.

More women in subs makes a lot of sense. Same smarts. Smaller package.

[hunter]

17. Very similar to women on the International Space Station, or the South Pole in winter.

I'd like to see the Navy make this work. The work culture that develops on mixed crew submarines might transfer to and invigorate other high technology endeavors.