MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Women to be allowed to server in Royal Navy submarines; first expected end of 2013
Women are to be allowed to serve in submarines for the first time in the Royal Navy’s history the Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Hammond, announced on Wednesday. The decision comes following an 18-month review conducted by the Royal Navy looking at the legal, operational, health, social, technical, and financial issues of allowing women to serve on submarines. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesLove the spelling mistake in the articles title. Now i do not normally pick on spelling or grammer mistakes myself due to myself being dsylexic, and therefore prone to spelling mistakes and poor grammer. But i would have thought a professional news site would have prove read the article before publishing it.
Dec 09th, 2011 - 10:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0As for the article itself, well its about time women were treated equally and allowed to serve on submarines like they are allowed to serve and even command surface vessels.
For the record its is “Serve” not “Server” unless you think women are going to act on board as somekind of computer networking device.
I think the original reasons women were not allowed to be submariners was valid on health grounds but medical research moves on. They will still have to take pregnancy tests before being allowed to serve on submarines.
Dec 09th, 2011 - 01:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Another development is the larger submarines have beds for all of the crew, so no need for hot-bedding, which takes on a whole new meaning with mixed crews.
Teaboy,
Dec 09th, 2011 - 02:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Proofreading is NOT Merco-Press strongest point. It looks as if they simply do not perform it.
@3 your probably right their, though it does not help me when am trying to read the words lol
Dec 09th, 2011 - 03:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Its going to be very interesting , this,
Dec 09th, 2011 - 06:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0you are putting men and women on a tin can, under water for up to six months, and expect them to play ludo,
now what was the result of women on ships, do you remember the no touch rules,
And how many pregnant woman have their been on R/N ships,
,,,,,
just an interesting thought, if the inevitable happens, I take it they will have the facilities to deliver babies on board, just in case, and a cresh perhaps, some toys for them to play with, until you reach land,
YES very interesting, still the future will tell.
Just a humble thought .
Elaine, I think the reasoning was to do with the risk of contaminants that might affect a foetus if (as briton puts it) the inevitable happens.
Dec 09th, 2011 - 06:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Personally speaking I'd regard being stuck in a big tin tube surrounded by enough water pressure to mean that if it all went pear shaped they'd be recovering what was left with a tea strainer as a good enough reason to not be on submarines, however whatever floats (or in this case submerges) your boat...
ElaineB: There were many reasons, firstly it was because the rule was, well - old. Back when the rule first came out doctors said it may have effects on women's health like the ability to have children. There were also other reasons which today will also pose a problem. the one or two women on that sub out there for six months at a time surrounded by 100 men, are quite likely to become pregnant, They have no access to the outside world.
Dec 09th, 2011 - 07:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Personally i think it's great women are allowed to serve on subs. Although i don't agree with women being able to serve on the front line. Not because i believe women aren't capable of it. I think the film G.I jane explained it well, a woman in a combat situation can often make the rest of her(male) squad weaker. Even though she could be the toughest of them all.
6 Rufus
Dec 09th, 2011 - 09:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 07 zethe
fair comments,
do you think its poss for a all womens sub, or with just a very few men,
I am not convinced that just because a woman is surrounded by men she will be compelled to sleep with at least one of them. Based on that theory an awful lot of submariners must be shagging. And even if the women did, there is perfectly good protection to prevent pregnancy. (I do remember the 'scandals' reported when women were first allowed to go to sea).
Dec 10th, 2011 - 12:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes there would be a possible risk to the foetus so pregnancy tests should be compulsory. I have not heard anyone complain about this precaution.
It will be interesting to see how the 'no touching' rule works in confined spaces. Talking of which, I cannot imagine ever being willing to live and work in such conditions. I once had a tour of an old sub - The Ocelot? - and it was incredibly claustrophobic. And foolishly I wore a dress that day. : )
“I am not convinced that just because a woman is surrounded by men she will be compelled to sleep with at least one of them.”
Dec 10th, 2011 - 02:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0100 females last year got sent home from Afghanistan. There are only 700 females out there. It happens.
The main problem is that if for instance a woman does become pregnant and shes on a trident sub, that sub has to come home.
perhaps there should be a red line,
Dec 10th, 2011 - 11:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0its a difficult problem,
how do the israilies get arround it, i hear they have lots of woman in their services,
just a thought .
I don't think the Israeli Navy has women on submarines. They can serve anywhere else.
Dec 13th, 2011 - 09:22 am - Link - Report abuse 0The navies of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, Canada and Spain all allow women to serve on submarines though.
Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!