Did the US Navy consider an all female submarine fleet?

by tedivm

I remember reading in a book (I believe cryptonomicon but don't quote me) that the navy had originally considered female only submarines, at they-

  • are smaller and can get into tighter spaces,
  • use less oxygen than men do,
  • and are better suited to dealing with the social situation.

I don't know if any of this is actually true, so I was wondering if anyone had any sources that went one way or another on this.

GTFErinyes

From the perspective of someone in the Navy: it's been considered, but whether it ever got into any "serious" planning is debatable.

Remember, a submarine is more than just putting together a bunch of people together. To actually send a submarine out to sea, you have to have a commanding officer (an O-5 or O-6) who has had numerous submarine tours. They need to be submarine warfare qualified, which requires at least one successful tour on a submarine. Likewise, all other officers on board have their qualifications or are working on them.

Your enlisted will have be in a similar situation - either submarine qualified or working on said qualifications. Think of it as a never ending series of apprenticeships - whenever someone new comes on board, they are generally unqualified and must work and study towards new qualifications to be eligible to be watch standers or watch supervisors and so on.

As thus, it's more than just getting the right mix of females to make an all female submarine fleet - it requires them to have the right qualifications AND experience to even take a submarine out to sea, which would have necessitated females on board previously all-male submarines in the first place to accomplish. At that point, of course, you've already integrated males and females.