It sounds too far-fetched to be true, and it is. Despite rumors reported by My Fox DC and The Hill on Monday, the Navy is not staffing Virginia-class submarine Illinois with the first-ever all female submarine crew.
As of 1pm on Tuesday, Fox still had not updated their story, shown in the screen shot above.
This rumor is impossible, since the Navy is just now beginning to place woman on ballistic and guided missile submarines. There are no current plans for enlisted women to serve on subs or for women to serve on Virginia class subs.
Cmdr. Monica Rousselow, a public affairs officer for submarine forces Atlantic, posted a comment on The Hill’s article, correcting the error.
“Hello, this is the Public Affairs Officer for Submarine Forces. The USS ILLINOIS will not have an all female crew. Today the First Lady accepted sponsorship of the USS ILLINOIS and she met with the group of female Submariners that have already reported to Submarines. This group is the first for the US Navy. Currently we have females serving on some ballistic and guided missile Submarines. The USS ILLINOIS will be a Virginia class Submarine. At this time, we do not have any females serving on SSNs. Tried to call your agency to correct, but received an answering machine.”
If you choose to believe the all-female crew nonsense, Joel Kennedy, author of the popular submarine blog Bubbleheads, “will bet you $1000 that the Illinois does not have an all-female crew when she gets commissioned. We’ll put the money in escrow, winner collects all. And I will win that bet.”
