# Are pets allowed on US naval ships? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364 "2010-02-25T05:15:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/21 "2010-03-04T21:53:21Z")
Unclear as to whether or not her dog was actually aboard, but could be: [News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines - AOL.com](http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/cursing-female-navy-captain-holly-graf-booted-from-ship/19383341) ---
**Author:** ![Henryhoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Henryhoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henryhoo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/22 "2011-08-26T14:16:00Z")
I was on board a destroyer, USS DuPont DD941 and in June of 1980, as we left the Bethlehem Steel Shipyards in Hoboken N.J., Our CO allowed a local stray dog on board and became part of our crew. We named him Rags and he traveled with us to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for refresher training and was on the ship more than a year later when I left the ship after a deployment in the Persian Gulf. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/23 "2011-08-26T17:12:16Z")
> [@Henryhoo](#): > > ., Our CO allowed a local stray dog on board and became part of our crew. . okay, now I just gotta ask the obvious question: who cleaned up after the dog? Ya know, seeing as how a ship doesnt have neighbors with a nice grass lawn … ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/24 "2011-08-26T18:31:33Z")
What about zombie pets? ---
**Author:** ![Oldeb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea666f/32.png) [@Oldeb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oldeb)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/25 "2011-08-26T18:52:54Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > okay, now I just gotta ask the obvious question: who cleaned up after the dog? > Ya know, seeing as how a ship doesnt have neighbors with a nice grass lawn … [It’s the Navy, they probably didn’t notice.](http://www.google.com/search?q=phantom+shitter+navy&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#pq=phantom+shitter+navy&hl=en&cp=5&gs_id=z&xhr=t&q=navy+phantom+shitter&qe=bmF2eSBwaGFudG9tIHNoaXR0ZXI&qesig=enLMzSoTSrk6fgqPbilcjw&pkc=AFgZ2tmR6yv13CMfFbGyMJprUiFMFjcaI5f1_63IQc1kOIzUZpvUoq1GXXReG9vq7JHf9d4-jVr3dDFhHBL3gAT-g9hpbPjGyg&pf=p&sclient=psy&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=navy+phantom+shitter&aq=0j&aqi=g-j1&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=1350c3a2e903cb66&biw=1024&bih=600) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/26 "2011-08-26T22:32:57Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > …However, “Enterprise” took place 200 years earlier as Earth’s space fleet was being launched and the NX-01 was the first of her kind. It seems to me that first-contact protocols with alien races would call for strict quarantine procedures in effect so that animals like Porthos would not transmit any otherwise harmless Earth bacteria to native fauna and cause an ecological disaster… _Quarantine procedures_? Most of the time Capt. Archer didn’t even bother putting Porthos on a leash. And IIRC there was an episode were Porthos caused a diplomatic incident with a newly contacted race by urinating on a sacred tree. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/27 "2011-08-26T23:54:00Z")
> [@Henryhoo](#): > > I was on board a destroyer, USS DuPont DD941 and in June of 1980, as we left the Bethlehem Steel Shipyards in Hoboken N.J… Interesting - I was on that same ship, a few years before you. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/28 "2011-08-27T00:12:24Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > _Quarantine procedures_? Most of the time Capt. Archer didn’t even bother putting Porthos on a leash. And IIRC there was an episode were Porthos caused a diplomatic incident with a newly contacted race by urinating on a sacred tree. Man, you Star Treck People really crack me up. You guys actually discuss this stuff like it is real. No offense meant, just really makes me wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/29 "2011-08-27T00:25:02Z")
> [@electronbee](#): > > No, pets are not allowed and I have never heard of anyone ever actually being allowed to have a pet. When I was on a ship there was a guy who had a sugar glider as a pet. He had to get rid of it as they are not allowed. That’s a bit sad. And unfair - if the grunts can have [artillery bears](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_%28soldier_bear%29), you’d think the navy boys could at least have a cool parrot or something. Of course, the bear was enlisted. Maybe you could get away with it if your cockatoo can salute ? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/30 "2011-08-27T00:41:33Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > The remarkable story of [Unsinkable Sam](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsinkable_Sam) - ship’s cat on three vessels - _Bismarck_, _Cossack_ and _Ark Royal_. [nostalgia] He looked like my Bootsie! [/nostalgia] Really, though, after presiding over the sinking of _Bismarck_, maybe he wasn’t a jinx. But after _Cossack_ they allowed him on another ship? Sailors, the most superstitious people on Earth? ---
**Author:** ![Emphant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Emphant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emphant)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/31 "2011-08-27T02:47:40Z")
A Captain of a US Navy ship at sea is pretty much as close as you can get to royalty in the country…so yes, I suppose he COULD have a pet if he wanted. That being said, while this may have happened in the past it’s not something that happens anymore. Of course, now that I said this, someone is going to have an exception. ---
**Author:** ![Henryhoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Henryhoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henryhoo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/32 "2011-08-27T02:56:25Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > okay, now I just gotta ask the obvious question: who cleaned up after the dog? > Ya know, seeing as how a ship doesnt have neighbors with a nice grass lawn … I have to admit I cannot remember who took care of Rags. It wasn’t part of my duty. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/33 "2011-08-27T03:03:28Z")
I remember reading one or more stories of WWII US submarines where there was a pet\* cat aboard. Basically done by crew members; the Captain officially was unaware of this ‘stowaway’. But obviously, on a ship this small, he DID know – just chose not to do anything about it. - The term pet may not actually apply. By catching mice & other vermin, cats work for their keep, and have been on ships for centuries. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/34 "2011-08-27T11:25:12Z")
[Ships Cat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship's_cat) has a long tradition. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/35 "2011-08-27T11:38:09Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > [Ships Cat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship's_cat) has a long tradition. Yes, this was mentioned, along with that link, on the day of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364/36 "2011-08-27T11:42:57Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Yes, this was mentioned, along with that link, on the day of the OP. Carry on. :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pets-allowed-on-us-naval-ships/530364.md?page=1)