Navy to Allow Female Technicians Aboard Submarines for Sea Trials

Navy Secretary James H. Webb ordered service officials Monday to allow female technicians aboard submarines for sea trials to test new equipment.

The action came in the case of Pamella M. Doviak Celli, a civilian engineering technician at the Portsmouth, N.H., Naval Shipyard who had accused the Navy of sex discrimination.

The Navy made clear that Webb’s ruling would apply to any similarly situated woman.

Webb decided “that female civilian employees shall have full opportunity to embark in naval vessels on non-operational, short-term sea trials on the same basis as male civilian employees,” the Navy said.

This policy “will reinforce the Department of the Navy’s equal employment opportunity objectives of full integration of women into the civilian work force,” it added.

The announcement was unexpected, because the Navy was preparing to fight such an order in federal court and because Webb has been criticized for his views on admission of women to military academies.

Celli, with the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union, filed suit in U.S. District Court in Portland, Me., on March 20 to enforce a ruling by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that affirmed her right to go on test runs for the submarines she helped overhaul.

Navy Changes Mind

Celli spent a week aboard the submarine Benjamin Franklin during sea trials in 1982, but she was barred from another trial run later that year. The Navy contended it changed its mind about such deployments by women on submarines because Celli’s presence had deprived the sub’s crew of privacy and impaired its readiness.

Navy submarines, as designated combat vessels, never deploy on operational missions with any women aboard and do not have separate facilities for men and women.