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Navy’s new gender-neutral carriers won’t have urinals
CNN
[Updated at 6:17 p.m. ET] The U.S. Navy’s new class of carriers will be the first to go without urinals, a decision made in part to give the service flexibility in accommodating female sailors, the Navy says.
The change heralded by the Gerald R. Ford class of carriers – starting with the namesake carrier due in late 2015 – is one of a number of new features meant to improve sailors’ quality of life and reduce maintenance costs, Capt. Chris Meyer said Wednesday.
Omitting urinals lets the Navy easily switch the designation of any restroom – or head, in naval parlance – from male to female, or vice versa, helping the ship adapt to changing crew compositions over time, Meyer said.
The Navy could designate a urinal-fitted area to women, of course, but the urinals would be a waste of space. Making the areas more gender-neutral is a relatively new consideration for the service, with most of its current carriers commissioned before it began deploying women on combat ships in 1994.
But it wasn’t the only reason for the move.
Urinal drain pipes clog more than toilets and therefore can be smellier and costlier to maintain, Meyer said.
“There’s a lot more at play in the design objectives than (making the toilet areas) gender-neutral. We’re saving money in maintenance costs, and we’re improving quality of life,” said Meyer, manager of the Future Aircraft Carriers Program for the Naval Sea Systems Command.
Other quality-of-life updates, according to Meyer:
– Sleeping areas, or berthings, generally will be smaller, designed for fewer people per room. On current carriers, some berthings have more than 100 sailors each. On the Ford carriers, the number will be closer to 30 to 50 each.
– Heads will be attached to berthing compartments. Currently, many sailors have to traverse a passageway between a berthing and a head, meaning sailors who’ve just woken up have to dress up more for a trip to the head than they would if it were adjacent.
The new Ford-class features were first reported by the Navy Times.
Some sailors said that they’re happy to lose the urinals because they’re hard to clean and maintain, the Navy Times reported this week.
The Ford class is the future replacement for the Nimitz class. The Ford carriers are designed to allow more aircraft sorties, but with about 660 fewer crew members, according to the Navy.
The first three Ford carriers are scheduled to debut between 2015 and 2027, at a total projected cost of $37 billion. That cost includes non-recurring engineering expenses and research and development costs for the first carrier, the Navy says.
—CNN
Moe Tom
July 17th, 2012
War is hell. Now WTF pissed on the toilet seat? Phucking animals those sailor boys.
norman einstein
July 17th, 2012
@Moe Tom, HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Wait for the memo…
in keeping with the new “improving quality of life” policy, all peeing will be done in a sitting position.
Metprof
July 17th, 2012
What would you expect from a class of vessels named after Gerald Ford?
IronyCurtain
July 17th, 2012
Why in God’s name would the plumbing that only carries liquids clog more than the plumbing carrying liquids and solids?
Ah, Jeez, don’t even tell me.
demonrat dave
July 17th, 2012
All this time I thought they just wizzed into the ocean out of the closest porthole
the aardvark
July 17th, 2012
Who does the Navy think we are, the Swedes? I can guarantee guys will continue to pee standing up. Which reminds me of the old joke I heard from my Mom when I was a kid growing up in a family of 4 boys and my Dad. What’s the safest place to hide in case of an attack? Under the toilet because its never been hit.
Jeff
July 17th, 2012
Oh how very nice and ever so politically correct. Barf. Attention Dept of the Navy, have you forgotten what your mission and entire reason for existing is? Very simplely you are to kill people and break things and to be so compitent at it that potential advisaries are intimidated into inactively. Do you still remember what the word victory means? BTW, does the either the Russian or the Chinesse Navy fear you? I have my doubts that gender nuetral toilets are of concern to them.
Another example that this country under antichrist Obama has gone collectively insane.
the aardvark
July 17th, 2012
Demonrat Dave, believe me aircraft carriers don’t have portholes. And they don’t pee over the side of the ship either. It’s a Hell of a drop from the flight deck to the water, as high as 70-80 ft. And you also don’t spit into the wind because the breeze carries it down the deck right into some poor sailors face, I once saw this happen to some guy who caught a lugee in his face.
Jeff Weimer
July 17th, 2012
@IC, when urine combines with saltwater (I’m assuming these are saltwater flushing), it creates a rime, like hardwater deposits – only on steroids. Urinals clog all the time due to that. They always stink too, no matter what you do. I’ve been on ships that removed them altogether just to no be bothered with the hassle.
FTR, I’m a retired Senior Chief, and I think getting rid of urinals is great. woulda saved my guys a ton of gross-out work.
I’ve been educated! Thanks for the info AND for your service, Jeff. Both are greatly appreciated. -Irony
Jeff Weimer
July 17th, 2012
Jeff – this lets us break things and kill people instead of snaking out drains. It’s a good decision, trust me.
hanoverfist
July 17th, 2012
Just hang it over the side.
I do.
Czar of Defenestration
July 17th, 2012
@Norman
Sitzpinkeln!
http://www.google.com/search?q=sitzpinkeln&hl=de&client=firefox-a&hs=25&rls=org.mozilla:de:official&channel=np&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Q4cFUKqOBone9ASSvojuBw&ved=0CFMQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=796
@Irony
The pee pipes may be smaller in diameter than those required to handle poop, but they may also use less (or no?) water to flush it away, leading to accelerated corrosion.
Sarthurk
July 17th, 2012
I’ve worked on commercial fishing boats that have no head. It’s either piss over the side, or sit on the 5 gallon bucket. On these kind of boats, the deck is usually awash one way or another, so I just piss on the back deck. More drown sailors have been found with their fly open. Marine toilets are inherently prone to clogging, so I don’t get that line of reasoning. Yanno, the military can guide a rocket right up a jihadi’s ass, so I can’t believe that plumbing is a problem.
Stirrin the B.S.
July 17th, 2012
Ok, so there may be some legitimate, positive reasons to do away with urinals. It’s calling them “gender-neutral” that raises the hair on the back of your neck.
That sends the message that it was done for the benefit of accomodating female sailors, and that the clogging and stench were secondary reasons – but positioned as primary for the purpose of selling the concept.
Call the ships sans-urinals, rather than gender-neutral.
Toaster
July 17th, 2012
FYI, the water on a CVN is desalinated. It’s a side benefit to having nuclear reactors powering the boat. Desalinating water is a problem for us on land but it’s easy to boil it via the reactors heat. The salt is left behind and the water is filtered after the boiling.
Boobie the Rocket Dog
July 17th, 2012
I think that if the military wanted to go gender-neutral á la Hillary, they’d put urinals in the women’s restrooms, too. (I’ve seen the picture.) Title Nine or some such garbage.
Libra
July 17th, 2012
UnCANny.
Buffalobob
July 17th, 2012
Will the male sailors be subjected to sexual harassment charges if they leave the seat up?
Unslung Hero
July 17th, 2012
NOW wait just a MINUTE!! You mean they are gonna name a “class” of aircraft carrier after Gerald Ford????? ……the coverup guy on the Warren Commission???………who picked Nelson Rockefeller for V.P.????? What’s next….the Barack Obama National Mosque??? WHO’S runnin this fish market???….it’s startin to smell!!!
Dismas_In_Wonderland
July 17th, 2012
The only thing truly “gender neutral” is a eunuch. Sort of like our eunuch in chief the bowing Obama, anatomically “gender neutral”, pseudo-president.
pseu·do [soo-doh]
adjective
1. not actually but having the appearance of; pretended; false or spurious; sham.
2. almost, approaching, or trying to be.
Eipisto Wahdmekha
July 17th, 2012
MAN OVERBOARD!!!!!!
tripseven
July 17th, 2012
Homo’s are gonna be pissed they can’t meat-gaze the guy at the urinal next to them now. Perhaps it’s time for a third bathroom so hetero’s dont have to put up with a sexually-disturbed “close encounter of the third kind” in the showers or urinals.
Ricky
July 17th, 2012
I dunno about this.. some of the female sailors on board the carrier I was on looked like they could have used urinals -Woof!
Jeff
July 17th, 2012
I dont understand this insane fixation on things being gender neutral. I can see it now, more politically correct names for our ships: The USS Hello Kitty and the USS My Little Pony. Barf
66chevelle
July 18th, 2012
Is this some Navy Muslim Outreach to recruit Muslim men? They are all sitzpinklers. Heads up, navy women…you’ll be issued hijabs before you know it.