US Navy officers claim USS Connecticut submarine infested with BED BUGS

Sailors aboard a six billion dollar American attack submarine say that the vessel has been infested with bed bugs – and that their commanding officers have been too slow to address the problem.

The situation on board the USS Connecticut has reportedly deteriorated to the point where sailors began sleeping in chairs or on the floor of the mess hall in order to avoid being bitten by the bloodsucking insects.

The infestation is believed to have started in March 2020 while the ship was taking part in ICEX 2020, a biennial military exercise staged by the US Navy in the Arctic Ocean.

‘We’ve had bed bugs for a year now,’ a petty officer aboard the submarine told Navy Times, which claims to have obtained photographs showing dead bed bugs caught aboard the Connecticut.

‘Sailors complained about getting bitten in the racks. People are terrified of getting bit.’

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Navy seeking comment.

The ship is currently berthed at its home port of Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton in Washington State. It returned pier-side in December.

Bed bugs are tiny insects that feed on human blood, usually at night. While bed bugs are not known to transmit infectious diseases, their bites can cause discomfort, including skin rashes and allergies.

A spokesperson for the Naval Submarine Forces Pacific, Commander Cynthia Fields, disputed the petty officer’s comments.

Fields said that the issue of bed bugs was first reported in December and that the ‘physical presence’ of the insects wasn’t detected on board until February 19.

‘Navy criteria for treating submarines or ships requires physical presence of bed bugs to establish existence,’ Fields told Navy Times.

The petty officer told Navy Times that commanding officers on board initially didn’t believe claims of bed bugs because ‘we didn’t have proof.’

Fields said that the submarine has been inspected on a daily basis and that all berthing spaces – where the ship is docked or anchored – have also been combed for the presence of bed bugs.

She added that linens and privacy curtains have either been laundered or replaced.

Navy entomologists have been summoned on board to deal with the issue, including through the use of ‘deadly countermeasures,’ according to Fields.

‘The Navy takes the safety and health of its sailors very seriously,’ Fields said. 

Two other petty officers assigned to the USS Connecticut corroborated the first petty officer’s claims that the infestation started in March of last year.

‘People were getting eaten alive in their racks,’ one petty officer said.

Another petty officer added: ‘The best way to put it would probably be “employee abuse,” but that’s not really a thing in the Navy, I guess.’

One petty officer said he initiated a complaint with the Naval Inspector General while also reaching out to the press because the high command has not property addressed the matter.

Sailors have complained that submarine duty is stressful enough as it is without having to endure the loss of sleep that the infestation has caused.

Those aboard the submarine sleep in cramped quarters. The disruption in sleep could have severe consequences in the proper management of the ship, they warn.

‘If someone’s sleep deprived because they’re in the rack getting eaten alive by bed bugs, he could fall asleep at (the controls) and run us into an underwater mountain,’ one of the petty officers told Navy Times.

The officer said he was concerned that crew members will take the bugs home to their spouses.

‘I don’t want them to take bed bugs home,’ he said.

‘They have to pay for fumigators and their families will suffer.’

The officer said that morale aboard the submarine is low due to the perception among the rank-and-file that the high command has not provided sufficient support to the sailors.

But Fields disputes the notion that the senior leadership was slow to respond, saying that the command ‘acted swiftly.’

‘Inspections by the ship’s Corpsman did not find any of the classic indications of bed bugs, and were backed up by inspection from Preventative Medicine Technicians on December 21,’ she said.

‘Despite follow on inspections by certified inspectors that found no evidence of bed bugs, the command continued to pursue resolution.’

One petty officer said the ship’s leadership initially did not believe the sailors when they first brought complaints about bed bugs.

He said sailors tried a number of mitigation measures on their own, including steaming and taping up the walls and caulk cracks – but to no avail.

Bed bugs are tiny creatures capable of squeezing through tiny cracks and crevices.

The petty officer told Navy Times that despite the infestation, sailors are being forced to sleep in the submarine this week during training.

‘They’re using us as live bait…to see if (the bed bugs) are still there,’ the officer said.

‘The upper chain of command isn’t going to sleep in those racks. They’re going to make the lower enlisted do it.’

‘Tonight and tomorrow, we are lawfully ordered to sleep in a known infested berthing area in order to record data that’s already been recorded,’ another officer is quoted as saying on Monday. 

Fields has denied the allegation, saying: ‘Two Navy entomologists arrived March 4, to direct hands-on efforts.

‘After two applications of pesticide and an initial application of diatomaceous dust, the entomologists directed sealing efforts to deny likely harborage to insects invulnerable to pesticide application, and oversaw additional application of diatomaceous dust and efforts to draw insects out of hiding and into contact with deadly countermeasures.’