Posted on 04/19/2017 12:12:03 AM PDT by Robwin
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Every submarine in the U.S. fleet was designed with the height, reach and strength of men in mind, from the way valves are placed to how display screens are angled.
That's going to change.
With women now serving aboard submarines, defense contractor Electric Boat is designing what will be the first Navy subs built specifically to accommodate female crew members.
The designers are doing the obvious things, such as adding more doors and washrooms to create separate sleeping and bathing areas for men and women and to give them more privacy. But they are also making more subtle modifications that may not have been in everyone's periscope when the Navy admitted women into the Silent Service.
For example, they are lowering some overhead valves and making them easier to turn, and installing steps in front of the triple-high bunk beds and stacked laundry machines.
The first vessel built with some of the new features is expected to be delivered to the Navy in 2021, the future USS New Jersey.
The Navy lifted its ban on women on submarines in 2010, starting with officers. About 80 female officers and roughly 50 enlisted women are now serving on subs, and their numbers are expected to climb into the hundreds over the next few years.
For now, the Navy is retrofitting existing subs with extra doors and designated washrooms to accommodate women. But Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, is at work on a redesign of the Navy's Virginia-class fast-attack subs and is also developing a brand-new class of ballistic-missile submarines, relying on body measurements for both men and women.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
The ship to shore rotation is not mentioned as a problem when it is a huge problem for the Navy
“How about a tampon launch tube? Huh? Great idea right there. Little ones aft. Could simulate torpedo launches.
FIRE TAMP 1 !!!!
FIRE TAMP 2 !!!! “
Are you suggesting the torpedoes come with wings? And they are fired with two settings? Maxi and Mini?
With women now serving aboard ships, I have no idea how that has affected the rotation rates. When I was in, each woman in the Navy represented one lost shore duty billet for male sailors.
Just lucky I guess.
It’s already full of seamen, what more do they want!!!
Did they actually admit the sexes are different?
No, dipshit. Fourteen years in, I know WTF I'm talking about. Women on ships and now subs aren't going away. Grow up and get over it.
Are you some kind of retard? Women on Navy ships works in peacetime to ruin morale and retention and in wartime not at all. You grow up you < expletive deleted >. I wish liberals would get the hell off of free republic. That means you.
Shore duty billets are increasingly being filled by civilian contractors (aka retired Chiefs). Shore-based weapons departments, personnel departments and on and on, it's getting rare to see uniforms anymore. All retirees double dipping.
Ideally, Big Navy wants to get rid of all shore duty completely and open up all sea billets to everyone.
Going down.
Hypocrite government! This on the one hand and on the other hand the government pretending that there's no difference between men and women.
Well, go yell at some clouds. Write your Congressman. Don’t come crying to me about it. Here’s another thing you probably shouldn’t do; hold your breath waiting for President Trump to put toothpaste back in the tube cos it ain’t gonna happen.
Curious, I find that those defending women on ships tend to be gay. Are you gay?
I got out just as our women were being assigned to combat ships.
I had friends on the USS CAPE COD aka the love boat. Everyone knew women serving combat ship was gonna be a cluster F. Ive heard the stories from friends still in. It’s a shame we’ve given in to political correctness.
If readiness was number one on the militaries plate then women would not be allowed on ships or in combat units.
Hey, to top it off we have people like Drew defending this BS. Queer....
“such as adding more doors and washrooms to create separate sleeping and bathing areas for men and women and to give them more privacy”
Why this attitude when States, Businesses and schools are made to have Gender Neutral facilities?
This is to just about everyone who posted on this thread -
I am really quite disgusted. I have no problem with some good-natured ribbing, but this thread is nothing but complete misogyny.
Some here might remember that back during the start of the gulf wars a freeper named Minor49er who posted a “joke of the day” on the Freeper Canteen. Nearly every day for a couple of years. This was done in an attempt to make our deployed troops lives a little easier. It was admittedly not much, but just how much was a high school student going to be able to do? It was also something that she came up with all on her own. Her parents didn’t come up with the idea (I know), she just looked around and assessed what she could do with the resources she had available and came up with a solution. She kept it up till she left for college.
Some of you are either current or former submariners and therefore might be marginally qualified to hold an opinion, but most of you haven’t got the slightest damn idea of what it means to serve, let alone to serve on submarines.
Minor49er is currently a junior officer in the submarine force. She has, since she was a kid, sought to serve her country and to do what she could for those who served before her. She has served here on FreeRepublic, in the Sea Cadets, in the Corps of Cadets at Virginia Tech, and in the US Navy.
I for one am extremely proud of her and her service. I think she is being ill-served by Freepers, and those whom she tried to help with a little humor once upon a time.
I’ve known women who were f*ckups in the Navy, and men as well. In my experience, none of them were f*ckups based on their sex, they were just twisted, f*cked-up individuals. Those of you who know what you are talking about and want to constructively engage are welcome to do so, the rest of you can go piss up a rope...
Just my opinion.
I worked at Electric Boat on the OHIO Class replacement project. Now called Columbia Class.
They made it required to make sure a 5% female can access all valves and controls without assistance. It made arrangement meetings a bit challenging.
Grow up, crybaby.
Do they mean in some cases lowering valves? I can see head injuries galore especially for tall crewmen with that.
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