Why aren't women allowed on submarines?

Answer 1

Women have always been allowed on submarines - they just haven't been allowed to serve as crewmembers aboard them until recently, and even then, it's female officers only. Even the order to integrate them into crews may ultimately backfire - submarine duty is all-volunteer, and the current administration hasn't considered that the submarine force might un-volunteer itself if forced to accept something that would create a lot of hate and discontent.

Typically, women riders can be aboard for days or even weeks, but in those rare cases, they usually are berthed in the XO's or CO stateroom, which has its own lock and shower facility. In the cases where they might be assigned to the Wardroom, there are strict procedures in place for them to follow to ensure their privacy.

The primary reason for no female crew has been the complete lack of privacy - submarines are an extremely close-quarters environment with no privacy whatsoever, and have always been designed as a single-gender vessel. Larger Trident subs could likely accommodate the change, but attack submarines would have a difficult time at best.

The integration of women on ships has had a lot of problems that the Navy doesn't publicize (higher pregnancy rates, prostitution, to name a couple), and the health hazards unique to submarine duty haven't been brought to light due to security levels. It's one thing to want something when you don't know the full extent of the hazards. Radiation isn't a big concern for most of us who've served for years on boats, but all of the other chemical hazards are. There's a good reason submarine duty is considered hazardous, and it's not due to its mission requirement. I don't know of anyone (myself included) who's ever served on submarines who got away with a clean bill of health. Of large concern (and the reason the British Royal Navy bans women from serving on submarines) is the effect a submarine atmosphere would have on a woman's child-bearing capability. Possible medical complications of submarine duty isn't in the recruiting literature, and they sure don't tell you that when you volunteer.

Another concern for years has been the objection of crew wives and girlfriends to the possibility of women with their men in close quarters for long periods. Submarine crew divorce rates are already around 70%, and the additional tension from such a situation means that overall crew effectiveness would drop. It doesn't make any difference whether or not anything was going on, it's the possibility and suspicion. Fraternization on surface ships causing multiple problems, and in some cases CO's being relieved of command, has been an ongoing problem since combat vessel integration happened years ago. Sailors have a hard enough time convincing wives and girlfriends they're not cheating on them when they hit ports, much less if women were serving in tight spaces. There is already a lot of pressure for sailors to leave the Navy because of long family separations or other family issues, and this would add to it. I myself left after 8 years because I got tired of coming home and my daughter didn't know who I was, which is very common for most sailors.

The only real solution is to have an all-female crew, but I don't see that happening soon. As I said, unlike surface combatants and pilots, submarine duty is all-volunteer, and forced changes within the force aren't accepted easily. Integrating women on ships wasn't that hard, but submarines are a different story.

Answer 2

The American Navy first opened submarines to female Navy officers in 2012, and as of March 2015, more than 40 have served on them. In December 2014, enlisted female sailors were also allowed to do so.