The crew of the Connecticut fast attack submarine have been exposed to bed bug infestation in their racks, and sailors assigned to the sub claim the command of the boat was slow to resolve the problem.
The problem of infestation began when the submarine was participating in ICEX 2020 in the Arctic Ocean in March 2020 and continued during a deployment last year, according to a minor Connecticut official who asked for it anonymously in fear of retaliation to stay.
“We have had bed bugs for a year now,” said the sergeant. “Seafarers complained about being bitten in the racks.”
“People are scared of getting something,” he added.
While sailors claim they fought bed bugs for most of 2020, Cmdr. Cynthia Fields, a spokeswoman for Naval Surface Forces Pacific, said the boat’s command first reported the problem in December and the “physical presence” of bed bugs was not found on board until February 19.
“Navy criteria for handling submarines or ships require the physical presence of bed bugs in order to establish existence,” she said.
The sergeant said the command did not initially believe the sailor bed bug’s allegations because “we had no evidence”.
Daily inspections have begun, all berths have been searched and mattresses have been inspected, Fields said.
Sheets and privacy curtains have been washed or replaced, and Navy entomologists have come on board to oversee efforts, which include “deadly countermeasures,” she said.
“The Navy takes the safety and health of its seafarers very seriously,” Fields said.
However, according to two non-commissioned officers posted to Connecticut, the boat has been dealing with bed bugs since at least the time of the ICEX event in March 2020.
It got so bad that some crew members slept in chairs or on the crew floor to escape the elusive bloodsuckers during their deployment, a non-commissioned officer said.
“The people were eaten alive on their shelves,” said the NCO, who claims the infestation had spread to several crew seats and at least one officers’ room.
“The best way to put it would probably be ‘abuse of staff’, but that is probably not really a thing in the Navy,” said another non-commissioned officer, who also asked for anonymity for fear of retaliation, about the leadership’s reaction to the problem.
One minor officer said he contacted the Navy Inspector General and turned to the Navy Times because the leadership had not adequately addressed the issue and the under-living without bed bugs and the sleep loss that the insects brought to the crew was stressful enough.
Sailors already share racks near the submarine, and fatigue has additional consequences when traveling in a metal tube well below the surface, he noted.
“If someone is deprived of sleep because they are in bed and are being eaten alive by bed bugs, they could fall asleep at (the controls) and let us run into an underwater mountain,” said the sergeant.
The sergeant said he was also concerned that other crew members would bring bed bugs home to their spouses and children.
“I don’t want them to take bed bugs home,” he said. “They have to pay for fumigants and their families will suffer.”
Fields, the SUBPAC spokeswoman, said the commando “acted quickly” when reports of bed bugs first appeared in December.
“Inspections by the ship’s corpsman did not reveal any of the classic evidence of bed bugs and were confirmed by preventive medicine technician inspections on December 21,” she said. “Despite subsequent inspections by certified inspectors who found no evidence of bed bugs, the command continued to pursue the solution.”
According to a petty officer who claims bed bugs were a problem in the sub for most of 2020, given the limited resources during the mission, it was understandable that the command could not alleviate the bed bugs during the mission, but the The leadership also didn’t seem to believe the crew when it came to the infestation until sailors caught some of them.
Bed bugs are tiny and tenacious creatures that feed on human blood and are known to be difficult to get rid of.
Their bites in sleeping people can cause itchy welts, and they get their blood by piercing the skin with an elongated beak, according to the University of Kentucky Entomology Department.
“Engorgement takes about three to ten minutes, but because the bite is painless, people rarely notice they are being bitten,” said the university.
When the boat returned to its home port in Washington state in December, sailors said the command’s responses did not fix the problem.
One solution was to cushion the racks to hopefully kill the bed bugs, but that didn’t work, sailors said.
The University of Kentucky notes that steaming alone often does not sufficiently penetrate the fabrics and other materials that bed bugs are in.
“Our steamy efforts during a month-long downtime proved unsuccessful,” said the sergeant.
Another sergeant said: “It caused the bed bugs to spread on the boat.”
Seafarers tried to tape the walls and seal cracks, but the layout of the racks made it impossible to completely seal any entry or exit points for the bed bugs.
According to the University of Kentucky, the creatures can squeeze through openings as wide as a toothpick.
Mattresses were removed and disinfected, said a junior officer, but the bed bugs were returning.
“Our top leadership said, ‘If we clean and sanitize all of these things and someone points out bed bugs, they’re fucking lying,” claimed one minor officer.
The NCOs also claim that the command will force the sailors to sleep in the racks again during training this week when the entire crew of the submarine will be on board.
“They’re using us as live bait … to see if (the bed bugs) are still there,” said a little officer. “The upper chain of command will not sleep in these racks. You will get the lower ones to do it. “
“Tonight and tomorrow we are legally ordered to sleep in a known infested berth in order to record data that has already been recorded,” said another sergeant on Monday evening.
In response to the Navy Times’ questions about allegations that seafarers are being pushed back into infested berths, Fields said Navy entomologists “have taken authorized countermeasures and confirmed that all possible bed bug control measures have been taken”.
“After two uses of marine-approved pesticide sprays and the application of a long-acting diatomaceous earth, entomologists recommended repopulating berths,” she said. “All appropriate countermeasures have been put in place with firm plans to address further outbreaks if they occur.”
A minor officer said the underlife and pace of operations are already weighing enough on the Connecticut crew and morale is on the floor due to the bed bugs and an alleged lack of help.
“You treat people like parts and parts like people,” said the sergeant.
“The crew are tired of constant undercuts, a constant rush-up-and-push mentality that has only existed for years,” said another non-commissioned officer.
In order to offer the crews an unaffected sleeping place on their working days in the home port, the command set up a temporary building on the pier, said the NCO, but the “stanchions with a tarpaulin over the top and metal” walls with cots “were for the seafarers not comfortable, so some slept on chairs, in the company car or in the mess.
“Some people slept on metal diamond decks because they didn’t want to sleep in the racks,” he said.
A non-commissioned officer also wonders why the command did not consider other berths on the pier for service sections such as trailers, a barge or a barracks.
“What they chose was a makeshift building made of stanchions and tape and cots from WWII,” he said. “There aren’t nearly enough racks for a full shift, so people have put hammocks up to sleep on too.”
When asked about berthing at the pier, Fields said that “Approved berths have been and will be provided to Connecticut seafarers, including berthing at the pier for staff on duty while (Navy officers) and corpsman of the ships are addressing the concerns of the crew to have.”
