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Navy picks first 4 subs to get female officers

The Navy has selected four commands as the first submarines to integrate women, a process expected to begin late next year, the Navy announced Thursday.

Women will join the crews of the ballistic-missile submarines Wyoming and Maine, and the guided-missile submarines Georgia and Ohio beginning December 2011 after completing training, which consists of nuclear power school, prototype training and the Submarine Officer Basic Course, according to the service’s news release. The blue and gold crews of these subs each will get two female junior officers as well as a female supply lieutenant, who will serve as a professional and personal role model.

In a speech at the annual Naval Submarine League symposium, Vice Adm. John Donnelly, Submarine Force commander, extolled the benefits of adding female submariners, such as drawing more candidates with technical training, and said the biggest challenge for the new policy is going to be determined critics.

“There are a group of people who have strongly held opinions, and they will be in the wings, waiting for the first indication there are problems,” Donnelly said. “But the vast majority of the submarines that I’ve talked to on active duty today are fully embracing this change. And I’m convinced that it will improve the atmosphere and war-fighting capabilities of our subs.”

Both the size of the female contingent — about 20 percent of the wardroom — and the presence of a more senior female officer were based on lessons from the integration of the surface fleet, Donnelly said.

There are 21 women in the first crop of submarine officers. “From what I’ve seen of these women,” Donnelly said, “they’re very above average.”

The current plan is to integrate two more boats in 2012 and then one more boat each year until 2015.

Plans to integrate enlisted ranks are still being studied, due to complexities with berthing arrangements, officials said.

Wyoming and Georgia are homeported at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga. Ohio and Maine are based at Naval Base Kitsap in Bangor, Wash.