Women in Submarines Class of 2021

On the last day of Women’s History Month, it is worthwhile celebrating more than a decade of women’s service on US Navy submarines. In 2010, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates lifted the ban on females serving aboard US submarines. A year later, the first female officers began reporting for duty on Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines.

The United States was not the first nation to allow female submariners. Indeed, the US was at least the sixth country to allow women to serve in the Silent Service.  Norway was the first in 1985, followed by Denmark in 1988 and Sweden in 1989. Australia followed suit in 1999 while Germany and Canada allowed women onboard in 2001 and 2002 respectively. 

The US Navy was, however, the first to permit women to serve on nuclear subs with extended deployments. The countries that allowed women to serve operated conventional submarines that have deployments of one or two months, whereas the US operates a nuclear fleet with deployments of six months or longer.

“The integration of women on submarines served to increase the talent pool available to the Submarine Force,” said Lt. Sabrina Reyes-Dods, the Women in Submarines (WIS) coordinator at Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic. “Women make up 57 percent of all degree-seeking college students and earn half of all science and engineering-based bachelor degrees. Twenty percent of U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen and 28 percent of NROTC midshipmen are women. With the ongoing challenge of recruiting highly trained officers, integrating women allowed the Submarine Force to attract the nation’s best and brightest.”