CV NEWS FEED // The USS New Jersey, a newly commissioned Navy submarine, is “the first in its class designed to be fully gender integrated,” Fox News reported this week.
Vice Admiral Robert Gaucher told NorthJersey.com: “The USS New Jersey was designed for two genders from the outset.”
After “the Navy lifted its ban on women in submarines in 2010, concern about the living quarters being too tight and a lack of privacy” led to the creation of the submarine, which is unofficially being called “Jersey Girl.”
Gaucher highlighted some of the submarine’s features, including “increased privacy in washrooms and sleeping areas.” The Fox News article also noted: “Access to top bunks and overhead valves were also designed with the height, reach and strength of women in mind.”
Although updates were made for practical use, there were others made to overtly emphasize a female presence aboard the submarine, evident in “its interior spaces decorated with posters and memorabilia representing the state, including a guitar signed by Jon Bon Jovi,” Fox reported.
Journalist Tom Basile took to X (formerly Twitter) to comically point out that through this announcement, the Navy has officially admitted there are only two genders. “So the #Navy has acknowledged there are only TWO genders,” he wrote.
Quoting an article by Milt Harris published in the Canada Free Press, Lori Boxer critiqued the new additions to the submarine in a post on X.
“While China and Russia contemplate joining forces, and Iran has just placed satellites in orbit and is drawing closer to nuclear capabilities, have no fear,” Boxer wrote. “We now have the ‘Jersey Girl’ Sub, complete with weaker valves, New Jersey paraphernalia, and an autographed Bon Jovi guitar.”
“Sleep well, America,” she added, “the Navy obviously has its priorities in order.”
