What I found surprising about the headline in the Mail Online was not that women would be serving on Royal Navy submarines but that they were still being called Wrens. Demonstrating my own ignorance, I thought that designation had been phased out sometime after World War II. Indeed it was, but only seventeen years ago in 1993. In the US in WWII, Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) served only until the end of the war.
But returning to submarines, the women serving on Royal Navy submarines will be provided with separate berthing and showering facilities. The women will be hot bunking (or hot-bedding as the Brits would say) but only with other women aboard. Does anyone know if smoking is still allowed on Royal Navy subs? In the US Navy smoking on subs will be banned as of 2011. By 2012 the first 19 women will be assigned to US Navy four ballistic missile submarines.
Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the article along.