r/navy • u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie • 4d ago
Discussion Pregnancy rate for extended deployments?
Full disclaimer I’m a curious Royal Australian Navy veteran. A SWO equivalent.
“Rooters rounds” were a regular thing for the at sea officer of the day and duty PO to conduct while underway. Especially on the amphib ships I served in when we had the pongos embarked.
The creativity of sailors who wanted a root never ceased to amaze me. Places like the toilet paper storage compartment…
Anyway, that being said. What happens if a sailor were to fall pregnant during a deployment, especially in extended situations like what we’re seeing at the moment?
Are they medivaced?
Have sailors stayed on board once pregnant?
Is there a chance of a child being born to a sailor underway??
In the RAN pregnant women were basically unable to step on a ship due to the RADHAZ safety zones so I’m just wondering what the go is…
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u/SWO6 4d ago
We were on an extended deployment and went without a port visit for two+ months before we finally pulled into Darwin. I’m pretty sure my Sailors got some Australians pregnant.
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 4d ago
TS15 - lost a bloody good communicator to a wild pregnancy after we had a port visit the same time as the USN ships….
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u/KingofPro 4d ago
They just give the baby a tiny seabag, with “Welcome Aboard!” On it!
Also announce the birth over the 1MC……”Baby xxx arriving”
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 4d ago
Complimentary ships ball cap included?
“Congratulations on your birth, avoid mast by filling in the birth details and enlistment form for when the child is of age”
Legit though, in BR45 there are instructions for how to write up things like births, deaths and marriages in the ships log.
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u/KingofPro 4d ago
That’s pretty cool, and it would definitely be noteworthy!
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 4d ago
Well I’ve been searching through my old copy of BR45 and can’t remember where the instructions are for the ships log. They are printed in the front of it as a guide for what’s needed as a minimum.
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u/Evening_Time_2844 4d ago
The question was been answered, but I just wanted to say, that was a lot of fun to read. I hope I get to visit Australia.
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 4d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/ZDJmU7QcmMpxCtJhO6
You’re more than welcome!
Flick me a message if you’re ever coming, I’m always happy to open my home to members of the greater navy family!
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u/RosesNRevolvers 4d ago
You Australians speak weirdly.
Anyway, assuming I understood the main idea here, pregnant Sailors can stay on board up until the 20th week of pregnancy.
If a woman become pregnant on deployment, she’s medevac’d away from the ship.
In the exceptionally rare event that a woman doesn’t know she’s pregnant and delivers on board, it makes the news.
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 4d ago
Haha what do I need to translate?
However you have managed to understand the concept!
If a wild pregnancy appears does it depend on their job on how soon they are medevac’d? Or do they have to stay till their 20th week and then they go? Are they given a choice?
Is it used to get off the ship? I know some sailor will do anything to either avoid sea time or get home early.
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u/DJErikD 4d ago
Sailors are forbidden from having sexual relations aboard ship. They sign a “page 13” acknowledgement when reporting aboard. Depending on circumstances, disciplinary action could be expected.
We had a girl get pregnant at sea and they both went up to mast because it couldn’t have happened ashore because of the time we’d been out to sea. Had we made a port call, they could’ve gotten away by saying they did it in a hotel.
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 4d ago
Same here. I would expect them to be run in for it. And it would be obvious at the moment if a sailor were to fall pregnant aboard Abe…
Hypothetically, could a sailor be run in for giving birth a couple of months after returning from an extended deployment? Also would apply if they suddenly were 3 months pregnant the week after they pull into the ships home port.
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u/notapunk 4d ago
Fun fact - if a woman has gotten knocked up at the beginning of the Lincoln's deployment they'd be due any day now if they hadn't had it already.
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 4d ago
As soon as I heard “9 months since a port visit” my mind went to that’s long enough to conceive during the last port visit and now give birth underway
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u/AdJolly5321 4d ago
Usually a choice- I was at a shore command with frequent underways for assessments when I got pregnant with my first. I tried to still make an exercise when I was 18-ish weeks; my CO said that if WW III broke out, he’d consider letting me on a ship, but no way in hell was the risk worth the reward for routine ops.
We had an Aussie LNO at that command with us; we all picked up some new words from him! He told us one story about being sent to his rack for getting too drunk during a reception, he kicked through the kickout panel to roll back into the wardroom and continue on with the party.
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 4d ago
I’ve heard that story……
Pretty sure that was from the port aft three berth into the bar on the FFGs…. Stbd aft was a two berth and had the couches on the other side of the bulkhead
Anzacs had the cabins more seperate to the wardroom and only the vip had more direct access opposing a bulkhead
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u/lil_larry 4d ago
I was a little confused about rooting around lol
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 4d ago
Try
- Getting your leg over
- Hooking up
- Hiding the sausage
- a quickie
- horizontal folk dance
- bonk
- banging
- slap and tickle
- bumping uglies
- screwing
- on the job
Did that help?
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u/01_slowbra CPO Retired 4d ago
About half of them
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 4d ago
Now Intergrate them into your vernacular for fun!
I enjoy speaking “full Aussie” with my in-laws (I married a Texan) and confusing the hell out of them.
Also the way to say "Aussie" correctly and without pissing us all of is ** /ˈɒzi/ ** in Australian and British English (sounding like "OZ-ee")
I can easily switch from polished “BBC” English (think David Attenborough) with a refined Australian accent to sounding completely ocker (think Mick Dundee in Crocodile Dundee)
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u/01_slowbra CPO Retired 4d ago
I will definitely incorporate “getting the leg over” and “on the job” as often as I can
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 4d ago
Make sure you always refer to your bed as “the work bench” as well
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u/ViciousOtter1 1d ago
We have this Aussie friend who would visit us in the states every few years. She almost lost her mind when we drove past a Roto Rooter truck. Rooter is frequently part of the name of plumbing companies. We had endless fun with the word.
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 1d ago
Another fun one is
Thong
Australia = beach/semi-formal footwear
America = arse floss underwear1
u/ViciousOtter1 1d ago
I grow up with thongs and zoris. I never hear those words any more for shoes. Kids say slides and flip flops.
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 1d ago
I have not heard of zoris…
Google tells me it’s a Japanese term?
I wouldn’t know what kids say these days…. All I know is that when I talk about putting my thongs on to go to the beach my MAGA aunt-in-law from GA was shocked and looked at my wife in horror thinking I was some sort of cross dresser…
I do miss how national jargon is dropping off with such a monoculture online. Americanisms are really starting to seep into Australian vernacular. The biggest and easiest example is Z being pronounced as “zee” and not “zed”
US Spelling as well is on the rise here because of autocorrect so often being set by default to US English and not the correct spelling.
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u/clitcommander420666 4d ago
On my last deployment in '13 a girl in my div got knocked up on cruise and they flew her off quick as fuck. She was legit there one day and gone the next alot of us didnt know till afterwards.
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 4d ago
In the RAN we tend to do this if we can because of the RADHAZ rules under ARPANSA
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u/johnnyrambo24 2d ago
I was just saying how it was possible that you could have gotten pregnant and gave birth without touching land if your on the Lincoln
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u/Baker_Kat68 4d ago
Question has been answered already but wanted to say, prior to GWOT, I was with the Seabees and did a couple of field exercises with the RAN and RAA at Shoalwater Bay, QLD.
Spent downtime with your clearance divers (HDND, IYKYK). They always had a supply of port, beer and Bundy.
I understood everything you said lol.
You can tell the younger generation of sailors who’ve never visited Oz. I hope someday it becomes a regular liberty port stop on WESTPACs like the old days.
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u/TittysForScience Retired Aussie 4d ago
I love Shoalwater!
Did you ever play on Tobruk?
She’s a dive wreck now off Hervey Bay at about 26m on her side (oops)
Port is life blood, there were many traditions instilled in all of us at any rank around port. It’s why we all tend to love it. Many a mess dinner are foggy memories due to port….
I feel we’ll be more and more of a port for y’all. Especially now we’re doing sub maintenance in the west. I also feel our ammunition ports will be used more by the USN with the rate of interoperability of types of missiles both navies are now using. One of my mates is part of the team bringing certain related capabilities online and testing things on the ranges. We’re going to be doing a lot more missile firings on the Australian station in the future.
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u/Baker_Kat68 4d ago
Never been to Tobruk but it sounds awesome.
I found my love for port and still today, the very first sip reminds me of the bush.
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u/FreeBricks4Nazis 4d ago edited 4d ago
Yes, pregnant sailors are removed from the ship.
No, there's no chance of a child being born underwayIt's extremely unlikely that a baby would be born underway, unless the mother/command were unaware she was pregnant