The U.S. Navy is set to install a smoking ban below decks aboard submarines when the clock strikes midnight Dec. 31, the Pentagon said Thursday, Xinhua reported.
The rule, first announced in April, is designed to protect non- smokers from secondhand smoke that puts them at risk of developing heart and lung disease, Vice Adm. John Donnelly, commander of Submarine Forces in Norfolk, Va., said in a news release.
"Recent testing has proven that, despite our atmosphere purification technology, there are unacceptable levels of secondhand smoke in the atmosphere of a submerged submarine. The only way to eliminate risk to our non-smoking sailors is to stop smoking aboard our submarines."
The U.S. Navy has been preparing its submariner crews, about 40 percent of them smokers, for the change. It offers smoking cessation programs and issues nicotine gum or patches to help sailors quit. Navy officials have also taken steps to make lighting up less convenient, such as limiting smoking time and the number of sailors permitted into the boat's smoking area at any one time.
News reports have indicated the difficulties in implementing the ban. Officers and crews have said life aboard a submarine is stressful and smoking helps them relax.