US Navy launches first gender-neutral sub

Nuclear-powered USS New Jersey was purpose-built to accommodate women

USS New Jersey, a Virginia-class fast-attack submarine designed from the keel up to accommodate both male and female crew members has entered service with the US Navy. 

The silent service has been men-only since its inception in the early 1900s, until the Pentagon began allowing women on board subs in 2010, prompting retrofits to address bathroom issues and lack of privacy. 

Some 4,000 people attended the commissioning ceremony for SSN 796 at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Middletown, New Jersey on Saturday. Commander Steve Halle, the captain of the New Jersey, called it “a truly historic moment.”

“Today, we commissioned our ship, and she is the fastest, most advanced, fully integrated fast-attack to date,” Halle said in his speech. “Our superior professionalism is enhanced by our crew integration and our diversity.”

According to Vice-Admiral Robert Gaucher, commander of Submarine Force Atlantic, the service is now “fully gender-integrated” and all future nuclear-powered submarines, including the new Columbia-class, will be designed with gender-neutral accommodations.

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Adjustments have been made to increase privacy in sleeping areas and restrooms, while access to top bunks and overhead valves has been designed with the height, strength and reach of women in mind, according to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes.

More than 700 women are currently in the submarine service, local news outlet NorthJersey.com has reported citing Navy Region Hawaii records.

The nuclear-powered attack submarine has a crew of up to 135, and is over 115m long, almost 11 meters wide, and can dive almost 250 meters deep. Newport News Shipbuilding President Jennifer Boykin has nicknamed her “Jersey Girl” and decorated the interior with posters and memorabilia representing the Garden State, including a guitar signed by Jon Bon Jovi.

The New Jersey is the 23rd Virginia-class submarine built over the past 25 years. It is also the third US Navy vessel to be named after the state. The first, BB-16, was a pre-dreadnought that served in the First World War, while the second was BB-62, an Iowa-class battleship built during the Second World War and finally retired in 1999.

According to local media, in the week before the commissioning ceremony, the submariners visited the Battleship New Jersey museum in Camden and met with students at Pablo Duarte-Jose Julian Marti School No. 28 on September 11, as part of community outreach.