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No for Combat. No for Sea Duty which on 99% of the USN ships is also Combat Duty. I would never want my daughters to be in either circumstance for any reason.

When I toured an aircraft carrier here in San Diego during the 90s, I looked at those metal doors, the fire hoses, the ladders, the equipment, and I saw that it was no environment for women.

I remembered my dad's description of the conditions on his ship when it endured combat so harsh, and destructive that both the Americans and the Japanese recorded it as sunk. The conditions he described, and the effort delivered by the survivors among the crew that enabled them to stay afloat, seemed to consist of a sustained period of nothing but courage and men's muscle.

Once the attack started reshaping the environment of the ship, the natural order of things broke down, suddenly it took hand tools and muscle to make doors open, things move, to dig out the wounded, make repairs, to fight back, to steer the ship, to get ammunition to the guns, to put out fires, etc., the last thing they needed was to have replaced 50% of their crew with females before the war.

For those who do support women on ships I very highly recommend them watching the actual footage of the USS Forestall fire. This is usually shown in Basic Training and each time a sailor goes to fire fighting school. The film shows hero's dieing. It is not a Hollywood created film it is real Fligt Deck Footage. They use it too pound the seriousness of fire fighting into sailors heads because mistakes were made in that fire. They were heroic mistakes made simply due to miscommunication. That fire caused a revamping of shipboard fire fighting.

A sailor at anytime may be called upon to do a fireman's carry of his shipmate up several decks too safety. So now addressing the operational limitations women on ship impose we'll see a few things not talked about. First is General Quarters. The alarm sounds and you get up and start dressing, when you get your shoes on you start running to your assigned station many times dressing as you go. You have a few short minutes to get there, get your equipment on, and start setting ZEBRA which is closing ALL hatches. Seconds count.

Next is Fires. It's the same thing really. Another highly important event is Man overboard. A shipmate is in the water or is suspected as being such. An accurate VISUAL Muster has to be done in a few short minutes to see who is not there. That is important because it also tells you what the shipmate was wearing and if they had survival gear, from what level they fell, etc. That Muster was so serious you had permission to report to your work center in your skivvies. If you were in the shower and the Man overboard whistle sounded you wrapped with a towel then and there and went to Muster.

No one will convince me there critical functions are not hampered by having women present. Ships are no place for PC. They are no place for worrying about someones feelings when there is a job to be done.

In my rating which was Machinist Mate you likely worked in a place called "The Hole". Welcome to hell. The temps are close too 120 and the humidity is 100%. A work day in hell was sometimes 20 hours a day counting watches. Do this for six months at sea.

Bad things can and do happen when ships deploy. People get killed in war and peace alike. It can go from calm to save the ship mode in an instant and not have a thing to do with being attacked by an enemy.

I was a Machinist Mate and I was also a Fire Fighter . My job in the Fire Department was what is called One on One. Meaning Nozzleman. Fires on ships are not like fires in civilian structures. Heat transfers fast through steel. Too fight a fire you can not stand up. You have to walk squatted down. It takes two hose teams the heat is so intense. The second hose team has a guy called One on Two. He has a goose neck nozzle held over One on Ones shoulders so as to keep the heat away from him. Navy Ships are deadly serious business.