More than 25 women have been airlifted from Royal Navy ships because of pregnancy . One ship - HMS Ocean – even had five pregnant sailors removed in emergency 'medevacs ' during the last nine years , a Freedom of Information request revealed . And at least one woman was airlifted from HMS Illustrious , which was nicknamed 'HMS Lusty ' by the crew before it was decommissioned last year . More than 25 women have been airlifted from Royal Navy ships because of pregnancy , including at least one woman from HMS Illustrious ( above ) , which was nicknamed 'HMS Lusty ' by the crew before it was decommissioned last year . Eighteen other ships - including HMS Dragon , HMS Enterprise and HMS Richmond - had emergency evacuations , data obtained by The Sun showed . A Ministry of Defence spokesman confirmed there was a strict 'no touching ' rule in place at sea , which suggests the women conceived before boarding the ships or during leave . The data comes nine months after commander Sarah West , the first woman to captain a Royal Navy warship , was flown back to the UK following claims she had a sexual relationship with a member of her crew . An unnamed captain was appointed in her place and a military investigation was launched into the 42-year-old 's conduct . A Ministry of Defence spokesman confirmed there was a strict 'no touching ' rule in place at sea , which suggests the women conceived before boarding the ships or during leave ( stock image above ) Navy sources said Ms West left HMS Portland for ‘ personal reasons ’ . The Ministry of Defence would not confirm what these reasons were or what action she would face . Women have been serving on Royal Navy ships since 1990 and in 2014 around 9 per cent of personnel were female . Last May three women made history by becoming the first female submariners to serve in the Royal Navy . Nearly 100 female British soldiers were sent home from Afghanistan after finding out they were pregnant . Ninety-nine servicewomen on operations were flown back to the UK between January 2006 and December 2013 , a Freedom of Information request revealed . Sixteen women were removed from Afghanistan in 2013 due to pregnancy while 18 were sent home in 2011 , the data showed . A further 102 women were evacuated from Iraq . Strict military rules ban mothers-to-be from serving in war zones . The women were flown back on flights usually reserved for injured troops and the true figure could be higher if others travelled via routine flights . Troops are reminded by senior officers to check they are not pregnant before they fly to the front line - but are not made to do pregnancy tests . Most of the babies would have been conceived before the mother left the UK but a small number of women may have become pregnant on tour . A Ministry of Defence spokesman said at the time : 'The small numbers of personnel who discover that they are pregnant on operations are returned at the first convenient opportunity . '
HMS Ocean had five women removed in Last May three , according to new data . At least one sailor airlifted from HMS Illustrious , nicknamed 'HMS Lusty ' MoD spokesman confirmed there was a strict 'no touching ' rule in place .