Navy Gets First Gender-Integrated Submarine. Here’s What’s Changed

The Navy’s first fully gender-integrated submarine has joined the fleet with changes that reflect an increase in female sailors serving in roles that were previously off-limits. The biggest change? More doors for more privacy.

The Navy’s newest attack submarine, the future USS New Jersey (SSN 796), was commissioned into the fleet this past weekend during a ceremony at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Middletown, New Jersey. Changes to the USS New Jersey’s habitability requirements include alterations to the submarine’s berthing area, where sailors sleep, restrooms and the Chief Petty Officer Lounge.

Lt. Victoria Meyer, a submariner who now works in manpower and personnel for the commander of Submarine Force Atlantic, said the biggest difference on the modified Virginia-class submarine is the berths. Previously, the sleeping areas had curtains that have been replaced by doors. In the chief’s quarters, there is a lounge area and a separate room with a door for sleeping racks, while the unmodified version had the racks exposed from the wider living space.

The changes “increase the privacy” of crew members, Jamie Koehler, a spokesman for Naval Sea Systems Command, told Task & Purpose in a statement. The adjustments signal the Navy’s support for mixed crews and will help the service with recruitment and retention, she said.

The submarine’s new gender-neutral accommodations are part of the Navy’s modernization efforts to bring more women on board ships. While the designs are new, women have officially served on submarines since 2011. More than 700 women are assigned to operational submarines, serving as officers and sailors on 19 nuclear-powered ballistic missile and guided missile crews and 19 nuclear-powered attack boats, the Navy said.

According to the Navy, the new configuration will be standard for all future Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines.

The Virginia-class submarine is 377 feet long and 33 feet wide, but Meyer said life on a submarine isn’t all that bad, adding, “I think people kind of shrink submarines in their minds.”

The new addition of doors will, however, give sailors more personal space. It is also important because the lifestyle on board means that sailors are on watch for eight hours a day in three different parts of the ship, which of course disrupts sleep.

“It’s just an attempt to maximize privacy across the board, because men and women love privacy. It’s just an attempt to maximize that,” Meyer said, adding that the curtains, now doors, are for light and for noise control “because there are people walking that way and people sleeping there.”

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The Navy’s long-term plan is to integrate all submarine classes with women. Specifically, the Navy hopes to have 39 mixed submarine crews with officers and 22 crews with sailors by 2033.

In 1994, Congress was notified of a new Navy policy expanding the number of assignments for women, but at the time, submarine assignments for women were considered “too expensive,” so all-male crews remained. In 2010, former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates lifted the ban, allowing women to serve on submarines. The Navy began with women serving as officers first, and in 2016, the submarine force integrated its first command with female enlisted men.

Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank and a retired submarine officer, said the Navy realized design changes were needed once women were accepted into submarine positions.

“We’re about 10 years in and the Navy is finally getting a new submarine built that has all of that built in from the ground up,” Clark said. “The submarine is not something that you can just make design changes to on the inside because it’s pretty tightly packed, whereas on the surface ship you can make those kinds of changes without it being a challenge at all.”

When women first began using submarines in the early 2010s, Clark said the Navy initially integrated the ballistic missile submarines because they had the most space and more bathrooms.

The Navy’s new ballistic submarines are also facing changes. Earlier versions of the Ohio-class submarines “were based on the average male height, size and placement of controls and operating equipment,” according to an officer who spoke to communications staff for a Los Alamos National Laboratory story. But the new Columbia-class submarines are also taking women into account, even adding a step stool for smaller sailors to peer through the ship’s periscope.

“The unique thing about the modified Virginia class is that we are now building submarines with integration in mind,” Meyer said. “I was in New Jersey when it was just me and one other female officer and now there are more.”

A Changing Submarine Fleet

Meyer originally wanted to be a pilot, but when she graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 2019, the number of female submariners enlisting in the service had increased.

“It’s the people that attracted me, the people that really make me proud to wear dolphins,” Meyer said, referring to the badges worn by submarine crew members.

Meyer went through the nuclear training pipeline and reported to the submarine’s pre-commissioning unit in April 2021. Now, Meyer assists with matters relating to women in submarines.

She went on a six-month deployment to Europe on the USS Washington, which had just integrated female officers, and lived with other women who were serving as officers on the ship.

There is no specific policy that prohibits mixed genders from docking, but when it does happen, “it is absolutely the exception and not the norm,” Meyer said, adding that submarines are small spaces and women need time on board to be eligible for career advancement. “You have to balance that with the constraints of docking.”

Meyer said that in a mixed-bed scenario, the female officer must volunteer. She also noted that there is a minimum dress code of sleeping in a T-shirt and shorts.

The ships also accommodate crews of female officers and sailors. On Virginia-class submarines, there are four officer cabins with three racks each, which equates to 12 sleeping quarters, Meyer said. Because submarines typically have more than 12 officers, junior officers may not be given a cabin and instead sleep with the crew.

The future USS New Jersey is the 23rd Virginia-class submarine with “enhanced stealth, advanced surveillance capabilities and special warfare enhancements,” according to Naval Sea Systems Command. The USS New Jersey was co-produced by General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII-Newport News Shipbuilding.

“I’m very proud to be a submariner, but ultimately I never joined to be the first or I didn’t really think about integration,” Meyer said. “I was just there to get my qualifications, do my job and be the best officer I could be.”

Updated: 19-09-2024: This article has been updated since publication to include the most recent information from the U.S. Navy regarding the number of women on submarines and future goals for women on submarines.

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