There are no immediate plans to modify the 17 attack submarines assigned to Pearl Harbor to accommodate female officers because the Navy plans to allow the first U.S. women to serve aboard larger submarines.

Changes will be limited to the larger nuclear guided-missile and ballistic-missile subs assigned to Kings Bay, Ga., and Bangor, Wash., said Lt. Cmdr. Dave Benham, Pacific Fleet Submarine Force spokesman.

“;That is because this class of submarine has the most living space,”; he added.

The Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarines—often referred to as “;boomers”;—at 560 feet are three times larger than the 360-foot Los Angeles-class attack submarines and 12 times larger than the World War II diesel submarine USS Bowfin.

Only Ohio-class submarines will have female officers on board. That includes four of the older models that have been modified so that two of the sub's 24 missile tubes can launch and recover Navy commandos.

The decision to limit sub duty to female officers serving on boomers skirts the cost and problems in modifying smaller Los Angeles- and Virginia-class boats to have separate bunks and bathrooms for enlisted men and women. Enlisted sailors make up about 90 percent of a sub's 160-sailor crew. No time line was given for integrating enlisted women onto subs.

The Navy ended one of the few remaining gender barriers yesterday by lifting the restrictions against women serving on submarines. Despite lifting the ban against women serving on its surface vessels in 1994, the Navy kept female sailors off submarines because of the problems of cramped quarters and privacy issues.

Navy officials said the first female submariners will report for duty by 2012.