There were three options for the picture to go with this article; Commander Tom Phillips (Royal Australian Navy), his submarine HMAS Farncomb, or a girl in a bikini.

A no-brainer for your genial hosts

Our gallant commander is quoted in an interview with Australian men’s mag Ralph saying that that the submariner equivalent of the “mile-high club” for people having sex on planes is the “going down club”.

Asked “if female sailors all had to be hot and had to wear bikinis, would that help recruitment?“, Cmdr Phillips said: “It would certainly get the right demographic of young men in.”

Australia’s navy has a recruitment crisis and had to stand down for two months over Christmas due to lack of available sailors. The navy last year said it had only enough sailors to man half its six-boat fleet of Collins-class submarines.

Of course it was all said in a light-hearted way but the usual busybodies have spotted a bandwagon so he’ll probably get an aggressive finger-wagging from an Admiral who secretly agrees. Politicians and general hand-wringers are piling in left right and centre already.

The full article (website very NSFW) isn’t going to be published until Monday, but it’s fair to guess that the juicy comments have been leaked to drum up publicity and there won’t be much more.

Currently the online poll “Have You Ever Had Sex On A Submarine?” is 7 to 32 votes against.