Perry Applauds Women Aboard U.S. Warships

The integration of women on one of the Navy’s largest warships is working so well that it will be a model for putting women on nearly all combat ships, Defense Secretary William J. Perry said Sunday.

“It’s past the experiment stage. It’s working, and it’s working well,” Perry said after spending the night on this nuclear-powered behemoth, the nation’s first combat ship to have women assigned full time to its crew.

There are about 100 women on the Norfolk, Va.-based aircraft carrier, with 500 scheduled to join before a six-month deployment in the Mideast in October.

The women will include combat jet pilots, cooks, bomb handlers and military police, ranging in age from late teens to mid-30s.

The ship--a floating airport with a 6,000-person crew--was conducting training exercises off Puerto Rico in preparation for its mission when it hosted Perry.

“I commend each of you for your maturity, your competence and your can-do attitude in tackling this truly historic first,” Perry told 2,000 assembled officers, sailors and Marines in the ship’s hangar bay. “You have set high standards for all of those who follow you.”

During several hours of briefings with crew members, Perry said he’d “seen no evidence of any problem that can’t be ironed out.”

Perry said the ship has successfully built separate quarters for men and women, but a problem still exists with putting women on submarines, due to limited space.

“But there’s no reason why it can’t be done, and indeed it will be done, on board all the other surface ships of the Navy,” Perry said.

Seven more combat ships are to take on female crew members this year. Women already serve on more than 60 noncombat ships.

Capt. Mark Gemill, the ship’s commander, said he dislikes the term “experiment” regarding female crew members.

“The Navy doesn’t need experiments with women at sea. We know how to do it, and we know how to handle the issues,” he said, noting that women have served on noncombat ships since 1978.