Woman on submarines reflect naval human resources recognition that its difficult to get enough people to crew a submarine, so either gender will do. Woman on subs also reflects wider societal moves toward affirmative action, orders on high and concern for naval public relations.
Men are more used to women in previously male-only professions. More woman on subs might actually attract more men to the submarine service (?).
On subs the lack of Social Media connectivity/access (no social PC laptops, internet or mobile phones) is a recruitment turnoff. UK Royal Navy research has found this. Therefore I theorise this Social Media limitation can be partly offset by mixed-gender crews - not just blokes.
Further to the long running series on the advantages and disadvantages of woman part crewing submarines:
Some articles are positive: Jul 27, 2015, Aug 11, 2015, Feb 16, 2021 and Feb 19, 2021
Some are scandalous: Oct 3, 2017, Oct 9, 2017 and Feb 9, 2021.
With the help of readers I've located woman on submarines in additional navies - those of France, the UK, Spain and Argentina (a tragic episode).
French Navy
There was a Defense Ministerial decision in 2014 that women were to be cleared to go on French SSBNs - perhaps from 2017.
An official source is that there were four woman (with the roles “doctor”, engineering “head of the reactor service, assistant to the head of the diving safety service, assistant to the head of the underwater service”) on Triomphant-class French SSBN Le Terrible implicitly ending its patrol in July 2018.
UK Royal Navy
A 2014 French source advises: "The British Royal Navy announced in 2011 it would allow females to work on its Vanguard class [SSBNs]. Like France, just three spots are currently available and non-commissioned officers will only be allowed starting" in 2015.
There were at least two female officers on HMS Vigilant (SSBN) in 2017 and one on HMS Artful (SSN). See the three "scandalous" articles above. It is more likely the majority of female deployments in the UK submarine service are successful - but only bad news hits the scandal sheets.
Spanish Navy
An Anonymous reader advised:
"In Spain, women have been serving in submarines since 1998-1999. But the first female officer just joined the fleet last summer, in June 2020."
She is Submarine Officer Laura Vitalia González Martínez, See this long article from El Español "the Spanish" website here. With photo of Laura (below) courtesy the same website.
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Argentine Navy (ARA San Juan)
The ARA San Juan tragically sank, with all 44 crew, in November 2017. In it was Submarine Officer Eliana Krawczyk. Eliana's home city of Oberá, Argentina, said it would name a street after her.
Female on Indian submarine is absolutely impossible for next three decades.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous [Mar 3, 2021, 6:46:00 PM]
ReplyDeleteRe your "Female on Indian submarine is absolutely impossible for next three decades."
That is India's loss मेरे यार :)
Regards
Pete
Equal Rights and Un-equal Roles. Sheila's* onboard ?
ReplyDeleteIn the eighties, nineties and beginning of the 21st century I was a strong advocate of (more) women in the armed forces.
Between 2003 and 2008 I had a kot of contacts with US service men fighting "Overthere", in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their experiences with mixed male-female units in combat were the oppsoite of my ideal. They concluded that mixed units were considerably less combat effective.
In the Dutch navy, we have since the eighties, quite a lot of women onboard of surface ships. A part of the male navy sailors are positive about that: "it works".
The other blokes say: concentrate them at the 'white fleet" (support ships), or in functions ashore.
They state that there is a social / biological thing called "male bonding". Females in groups do not bond together, in groups they 'scratch' each other.
If females and males bond together aboard naval ships. And I know one exmaple, a former female collegue (Yolanda) was marconist and married another (male) sailor.
The atmosphere, informal relations between other crew members and / or hierarchy change. Nice for a soap opera. But that's no good, when you go to war.
Yolanda: "Out of my own and others experiences, mixed crews at surface warships work.
But .. mixed crews aboard submarines will not work."
Why Yolanda ?: "Every woman has a territory. Her children, her garden / yard, her kitchen, her office, etc. She will partly tolerate males in that territory. But certainly not other women. A submarine is simply just too small.
(Sheila = Australian slang for women. Besides Dutch, I am a Pommy (British), Israeli and Aussie)
Cheers folkes, Locum.
Hi Locum [your Mar 8, 2021, 3:15:00 AM]
ReplyDeleteOf course there is generalisations, exceptions and norms of women on subs.
Over time, since 1985 when there was a woman actually captaining a Norwegian sub.
Through 10s of RAN women serving on SSKs from the 2000s
through to the 2010s with a sharp increase (into 100s of women) serving on USN SSBNs and SSGNs
Military personnel practices develop and change on female and male crews on mixed crew subs.
Different nationalities have different interactions experiences - like on a mixed crew Japanese Taigei-class sub in a year or two.
You are mighty multi-national :)
Cheers
Pete