Navy to launch first submarine built for mixed-gender crew

( NewsNation ) — The U.S. Navy’s first gender-integrated submarine will enter service on Sep. 14, according to Naval Sea Systems Command.

Following eight years of construction, the USS New Jersey, a Virginia-class submarine, is a historic shift for the Navy. The service had a ban on women serving on submarines until 2010.

As of 2023, there were 609 female sailors assigned to operational submarines, mostly on Ohio-class submarines, which are larger than Virginia-class subs, that had been retrofitted to accommodate both genders.

In the future, all nuclear-powered attack submarines and new Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines will be designed to be gender-neutral from the keel up.

Admitting women to submarines posed a challenge for the Navy, which had to reorganize and retrofit the vessels where space is already at a premium.

The USS New Jersey has been adjusted to account for male and female service members, including changes to the height of overhead valves, added steps for high bunks and stacked laundry machines and additional privacy for washrooms and berths.

Previously, the Navy announced it would expand the number of co-ed crewed submarines from 30 to 40. Designed for all-male crews, existing submarines haven’t easily supported the addition of women.

One example is berths, which are usually built in three or six rack person rack configurations, which may not easily be adapted if the number of women on a vessel doesn’t match. Washrooms face similar issues, which crews have dealt with by dividing up space or using facilities in all-male or all-female blocks.

Female submariners also say culture has to adapt along with the physical layout of the vessels, as male crew members were not always accepting and the first women on a crew were often the subject of awkward curiosity.

The USS New Jersey will be the 23rd Virginia-class submarine in the Navy’s fleet, named after the state where the first U.S. submarine was built in 1900.

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