Women on subs: as soon as 2011
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
A tug helps manuver the USS Alabama alongside the USS Maine at Delta Pier. (U.S. Navy photo by Ray Narimatsu)
Women could begin serving on submarines as soon as 2011, starting with officers on ballistic- and cruise-missile submarines, like the ones based at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, according to a story from the Kitsap Sun.
Quoting Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. John Daniels, based at the Pentagon, the story said:
The conversion to mixed-gender crews would begin with the Trident submarines because they’re much larger than fast-attack subs and “appear to require less modifications,” Daniels said. “It would allow us to move out more quickly as we implement women into the submarine corps.”
Read the rest of the story online here:
Women Could Start Serving on Subs as Soon as 2011, Navy Says
The buzz about high-level consideration for a policy change about women serving on submarines began in late September after comments by Adm. Mike Mullen to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Navy Times also solicited statements from Mullen's successor as Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Gary Roughhead, and Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.
Soon afterward, the issue was making waves across the Internet, on posts at The Stupid Shall Be Punished, Rontini's Submarine Bulletin Boards, U.S. Naval Institute, Kitsap Sun, SpouseBUZZ, Navy for Moms, and Facebook pages for the CNO and the Navy's top enlisted leader, MCPON Rick West.
Related post:
Women on submarines: Is it time? Sept. 25, 2009