The crew of the fast-attack submarine Connecticut has been subjected to a bed bug infestation in their racks, and sailors assigned to the sub allege that the boat\u2019s command has been slow to fix the problem.<\/p>\n
The infestation issue began while the sub was taking part in ICEX 2020 in the Arctic Ocean in March 2020 and continued during a deployment last year, according to a Connecticut petty officer who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had bed bugs for a year now,\u201d the petty officer said. \u201cSailors complained about getting bitten in the racks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are terrified of getting bit,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
While sailors allege they battled bed bugs for most of 2020, Cmdr. Cynthia Fields, a Naval Surface Forces Pacific spokeswoman, said the boat\u2019s command first reported the issue in December, and that the \u201cphysical presence\u201d of bed bugs wasn\u2019t found onboard until Feb. 19.<\/p>\n
\u201cNavy criteria for treating submarines or ships requires physical presence of bed bugs to establish existence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The petty officer said the command initially didn\u2019t believe sailor bed bug claims because \u201cwe didn\u2019t have proof.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daily inspections have commenced, all berthing spaces have been searched and mattresses have been inspected, Fields said.<\/p>\n
Linens and privacy curtains have been laundered or replaced, and Navy entomologists have come onboard to monitor efforts that include \u201cdeadly countermeasures,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Navy takes the safety and health of its sailors very seriously,\u201d Fields said.<\/p>\n
But according to two petty officers assigned to Connecticut, the boat has been dealing with bed bugs since at least the time of the ICEX event in March 2020.<\/p>\n
It got so bad that some crew members took to sleeping in chairs or on the floor of the crew\u2019s mess to escape the elusive bloodsuckers during their deployment, said one petty officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople were getting eaten alive in their racks,\u201d said the petty officer, who alleges that the infestation spread to several enlisted berthing spaces and at least one officer state room.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best way to put it would probably be \u2018employee abuse,\u2019 but that\u2019s not really a thing in the Navy, I guess,\u201d another petty officer who also requested anonymity for fear of retribution said of leadership\u2019s response to the problem.<\/p>\n
One petty officer said he has contacted the Naval Inspector General and reached out to Navy Times because leadership hasn\u2019t adequately addressed the issue, and sub life is stressful enough without bed bugs and the loss of sleep the insects brought to the crew.<\/p>\n
Sailors already share racks in the sub\u2019s close quarters, and fatigue takes on added consequence when underway in a metal tube far below the surface, he noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone\u2019s sleep deprived because they\u2019re in the rack getting eaten alive by bed bugs, he could fall asleep at (the controls) and run us into an underwater mountain,\u201d the petty officer said.<\/p>\n
The petty officer said he also worries that fellow crew members will take bed bugs home to their spouses and kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t\u2019 want them to take bed bugs home,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have to pay for fumigators and their families will suffer.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Much more at the source. If the sailors wanted a quicker resolution, they should have released some of the captured bugs into the officer’s ward room or the captain’s berth.<\/p>\n
This isn’t the first time that Connecticut has come under attack. In 2003 she surfaced through the Arctic ice where her rudder was gnawed on by a curious polar bear for a while.<\/p>\n030427-O-0000B-001For the last year it seems the nuclear fast attack submarine USS Connecticut has been ridden … Hot racking takes on a new meaning aboard USS Connecticut<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[220,406,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-floggings-will-continue-until-morale-improves","category-guest-link","category-navy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111256"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111259,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111256\/revisions\/111259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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