US Navy investigates sexual harassment of women aboard submarine

The Navy has launched a sexual misconduct investigation into allegations that illegal video recordings were made aboard a submarine that was among the first to allow American women to serve alongside men.

Vice Adm. M.J. Connor, commander of the Navy's submarine force, said in a letter dated Thursday that the suspects, who were also accused of distributing the videos, have been removed from the USS Wyoming while an investigation is conducted. The nuclear-armed submarine is based at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia.

Connor didn't describe the content of any recordings. His letter came a day after the Navy Times reported female officers on the Wyoming were secretly recorded undressing.

Paul O'Donnell, a spokesman for the Navy Criminal Investigative Service, said the investigation involves possible violations of military law dealing with sexual misconduct, specifically a section that prohibits recording or broadcasting nude images without the subject's consent.

The Navy says 59 women now serve on American submarines after it began integrating the previously all-male force in 2011.