[RicocheT]

Any here on FR who were on the boomers during the cold war? How would six months submerged been with one or two females aboard. Would the tension level gone up or down? Would anyone have gone crazy and nuked Moscow?

[central_va]

The problem is psychological in that with attractive women on board you constantly wondering who is hitting it, and why aren't I trying to hit it? This is a major distraction. Also, when on liberty(one ocean - different continent rule) fidelity is optional and the guys have a code of silence. Fidelity is the first casualty on deployment, the second is sobriety. I can imagine some don't trust those split tails to keep their mouths shut when you get back.

One Ocean different Continent rule: If you are more than one ocean or 2 continents between you and your spouse then you are no longer married. Being deployed in the Navy adds a geographical component into marriage/relationships.

[MNnice]

I served on a boomer (USS Patrick Henry SSBN 599G) from 1969 to 1973. We talked about female crew members all the time because even then the Navy was conducting surveys and studies to see what the reaction would be to mixed crews. The theory was that anything that would make the patrol more pleasant would give the Navy an excuse to extend them beyond the normal 65 days.

The general consensus was then that the wives and girlfriends would be the only ones who would object. An idea that was floated then was to make all the females admitted lesbians so the wives wouldn’t have a reason to worry but that didn’t fly because gays weren’t allowed to serve. It was a fun debate back in the day.