Women on subs: Will idea hold water?

The U.S. Navy is studying how to place female sailors on submarines, but the complications of doing so will be outweighed by the benefits, a retired commander here said.

“I think the reason that this has been so long in coming is because introducing females onto a submarine is going to be a complex mission,” said Patty Parks, who formerly ran the Navy’s Chattanooga operations support center.

Mrs. Parks said that is why the problem hasn’t been addressed before, but the time is right to consider change.

“The fact is 30 years ago you didn’t even think about women being on ships,” she said. “Women are on virtually all of the ships the Navy has right now.”

In late September both Chief of Naval Operations Gary Roughead and Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said the Navy is considering placing women in submarines for sea service.

The Navy first allowed women to serve aboard surface combat ships 16 years ago, and before that most women worked on land bases and hospital ships as medical staff. Women are allowed to serve on subs in a few countries, including Australia, Canada, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

The Navy will have to work through a host of issues before women could be allowed on subs. Would men and women get separate bathrooms and sleeping quarters, as already is done aboard surface ships? Would the process of integrating subs begin with female officers, followed by enlisted women? What would happen if a woman discovered at sea that she was pregnant?

Alan Syler, commander of the USS Carbonero base, a submarine veterans group in Chattanooga, worried that fraternization among male and female sailors would lead to problems.

“I could see that making morale plummet to zero,” he said.

Mr. Syler said spending 50 or more days submerged is an “arduous” task that tries the patience of men working together. His wife, Joan Syler, said that as a spouse of a former submariner, she’d have concerns with women and men working in such close quarters.

The Navy bans “fraternization” between unmarried men and women. Punishment can range from a letter in an offender’s file to a court-martial.

Brian Meagher, head of the USS Haddo base, a submarine veterans group in Cleveland, Tenn., said bringing women aboard is a logistical problem.

Mr. Meagher said work aboard a submarine is highly technical, but he has no doubt that women sailors could do the job.

“In fact, they might be better at it than we were,” he said. “The only problem I had was the space available.”

Petty Officer 1st Class Arcenia Pierre said the smaller size of submarines will mean a lot of work to accommodate separate sleeping and sanitary facilities.

The 10-year Navy veteran and Chattanooga Naval Operations Support Center reservist served three years aboard the USS Carl Vinson, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

She said serving aboard submarines would be another way to diversify the fleet.

“It’s good for the Navy to be more diverse and for women to have these opportunities,” she said.

Chief Petty Officer Charles Perry, a senior enlisted sailor at the Naval Operations Support Center here, served aboard ship when women first were integrated.

“A lot of people are afraid of change,” he said. There were some initial adjustments during integration of women aboard ships, he said, but crews were professional and leadership made the transition smooth.

“Some of the hardest-working folks I’ve ever had were females, and I wouldn’t trade them,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.