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Female Submariners

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Author
and
Subjects
History - general
Tags
US Navy, Women, Submariners, Soviet Navy, Humour
RAN Ships
None noted.
Publication
March 1997 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)

The Typhoon Solution

By Norman Polmar

“Women in submarines?. No problems”. That was the reaction of Academician Segei Nikitich KOVALEV, chief designer of the Soviet Yankee, Delta and Typhoon strategic missile submarines, to Admiral BOORDA’S proclamation that women probably would go to sea in US Ballistic missile submarines.

“Simply buy Typhoon submarines from us; they have two main pressure hulls – one for men and one for women”, explains KOVALEV.

Academician KOVALEV was “inspired” by the idea of joint crew of men and women, and for a year he has considered the idea. According to KOVALEV:

  • There are living quarters in both hulls of the submarine. Cabins for the commanding and executive officers and departmental heads are provided in only one of the hulls, however, so female command personnel would have to be accommodated in the men’s hull or upgraded cabins would have to be arranged in the women’s hull.
  • The number of bunks in a Typhoon is equal to the number of crew members – approximately 150. Thus, if some bunks in the women’s hull are vacant, some of the men will be left without bunks.
  • The Russian Navy’s requirements for living quarters have been developed without consideration of women. Considerable work would need to be done to upgrade the women’s accommodations. beginning with additional washing and storage facilities and finishing with more mirrors
  • In view of a strategic missile submarine’s long underwater endurance (the potential is several months), it is possible – if necessary – to accommodate a delivery room for pregnant members in the torpedo compartment, in place of spare torpedoes. This could be considered neutral space as it is located forward, between the main pressure hulls.
  • The submarine’s control compartment is located amidship between the main pressure hulls. As there are no living spaces there, this area could be the principal social area for the crew.

Academician KOVALEV is ready to begin detailed discussions on this matter with the US Navy’s Bureau of Naval Personnel. But with the cutback in the US strategic forces following the end of the Cold War and for a number of other reasons it seems highly unlikely that the US Navy would acquire Typhoon class missile submarines.

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