SAN DIEGO — The Navy pilot explained to a disciplinary board that he was only trying to bring some humor into the situation when he pulled his stunt with a subordinate woman officer.

"I tried to lighten things up . . ." the lieutenant commander said. "I pulled my fly down and got up and pulled out my penis, turned around and said (to the woman), 'So, what do you think of that?' "

The startled look on the woman's face spoke volumes about how funny she thought it was.

"I then put my penis back in my pants, sensing that my attempts at a joke to lighten the situation had failed," the pilot told the Navy board.

The incident is among several described in a newly published study of sexual harassment of women Navy officers. Conducted by retired Navy Cmdr. Kay Krohne, it is the first in-depth study of the nature of the problem in the Navy.

In another incident, a woman commander was confronted in her private quarters by her commanding officer, a male captain whose rank is equivalent to a colonel, and three other male officers, two who were subordinate to her.

The four men had been drinking and were loud and profane, the woman testified to a disciplinary board. One of the subordinate officers told her to "loosen up," while the others put their hands up her sweater and pulled her down on the bed and photographed her, she said.

According to the woman's testimony at the captain's court-martial, he "asked me if I had ever had an orgasm on a bidet."

Before leaving her quarters, the captain and one of the subordinate officers exposed themselves to her.

Krohne's detailed study was written as her doctoral thesis on leadership at the University of San Diego. The study, based on research done from 1988 to 1990, is titled "The Effect of Sexual Harassment on Female Naval Officers."

The above incidents are graphic examples of the most severe forms of harassment, Krohne said. More commonly, she found, harassment stems from off-color jokes, sexual remarks and brushing up against women sailors.

Krohne retired in 1989 after a 21-year Navy career. She lives in Coronado with her husband, also a retired Navy officer.

Krohne's research began with a questionnaire on being a female military officer, which she circulated at a 1988 seminar at San Diego State University. Based on the results, she interviewed 61 women officers and found that 40, or about 65%, said they had been sexually harassed. She then selected eight cases--all of which had resulted in formal complaints, hearings and punishment--for further study.