Read the original article on Business Insider.
A submarine designed to fully integrate male and female sailors is set to join the US fleet on Saturday.
The USS New Jersey “is the first Virginia-class submarine designed and built for a full gender integrated crew,” according to Naval Sea Systems Command.
Delivered last April after eight years of construction, it will enter active service on September 14, following a ceremony at Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey.
A long-standing ban on women serving aboard US submarines was lifted in 2010, and as of 2023 there were 609 women assigned to submarines in operation, per the US Naval Institute.
“The submarine community is a fully gender-integrated warfighting force,” said Vice Admiral Robert Gaucher, commander of Submarine Forces Atlantic, according to Stars and Stripes.
Gaucher added, per the outlet, that all future nuclear-powered attack submarines and all new Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines are to be designed “gender-neutral from the keel up.”
For the New Jersey, that meant adjusting many details, from the height of overhead valves to the privacy of washrooms and berths, the outlet reported.
Since admitting women onto submarines, the US Navy has faced the challenge of retrofitting and reorganizing vessels for co-ed use.
Last year, the Navy announced plans to expand the number of submarines taking on co-ed crews from 30 to 40, the Navy Times reported.
Lieutenant…
