A Navy sailor was sentenced to a year in prison for taking photos of classified areas inside a nuclear attack submarine despite his pleas that it was similar to how Hillary Clinton used a private server to send classified emails.

Kristian Saucier, of Arlington, Vermont, appeared in federal court in Bridgeport, Connecticut on Friday where a judge also ordered him to serve six months of home confinement with electronic monitoring during a three-year period of supervised release after the prison time.

He pleaded guilty in May to unauthorized detention of defense information and had faced five to six years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

Kristian Saucier, above, was a 22-year-old sailor on the USS Alexandria when he took photos of classified areas in the sub, he said to show them to his kids one day

Saucier was prosecuted more aggressively than other sailors caught doing the same thing, probably because he destroyed the evidence

Saucier admitted to taking six photos of classified areas inside the USS Alexandria in 2009 when it was in Groton and he was a 22-year-old machinist mate on the submarine.

The photos showed the nuclear reactor compartment, the auxiliary steam propulsion panel and the maneuvering compartment, prosecutors said.

Kristian Saucier’s attorneys tried working a Hillary Clinton angle, arguing that the Democratic presidential nominee had been 'engaging in acts similar to Mr. Saucier' with information of much higher classification, according to US News.

Saucier was sentenced to one year in prison - his lawyers wanted probation

The filing said it would be 'unjust and unfair for Mr. Saucier to receive any sentence other than probation for a crime those more powerful than him will likely avoid,' attorney Derrick Hogan wrote, according to the outlet.

Saucier took the photos knowing they were classified, but did so only to be able to show his family and future children what he did while he was in the Navy, his lawyers said.

He denied sharing the photos with any unauthorized recipient.

'It was a foolish mistake by a very young man,' his lawyer, Greg Rinckey, said after the sentencing. 'It's a very sad case because Kristian Saucier is a fine young man. We don't believe this was really his true character.'

Saucier is expected to receive an 'other than honorable' discharge from the Navy next month, Rinckey said. He is to report to prison on October 12.

Saucier was sentenced to one year in prison and a $100 fine, along with six months home confinement, 100 hours of community service and a ban on owning guns, his legal team says.

The pictures were taken aboard the USS Alexandria, showing the nuclear reactor compartment, the auxiliary steam propulsion panel and the maneuvering compartment

Despite the seemingly harsh sentence, Rinckey said 'We're very pleased.'

But he added, comparing the outcome to that of Clinton's, 'It could be argued here that depending on what your name is, that's the type of justice you get in the United States.'

A former sailor who worked with Saucier, Gene Pitcher, told Politico, 'I just don’t think it’s fair. In reality, what [Clinton] did is so much worse than what Kris did. ... I think it’s just a blatant double standard.'

Experts have said that Saucier was prosecuted more aggressively than he would have been if he hadn't destroyed evidence, including a laptop, camera and memory card

He added that he had seen other sailors get in trouble for taking photos, but that they usually just lost pay or rank, and Saucier is the only one he's seen prosecuted.

'Felony charges appear to be reserved for people of the lowest ranks. Everyone else who does it either doesn’t get charged or gets charged with a misdemeanor,' Edward MacMahon, a Virginia defense attorney not involved in the Saucier case, told Politico.

A big difference in the two cases, experts point out, is that Clinton's material was not marked classified when she sent it, whereas Saucier admitted he knew the places he photographed were classified, said the outlet.

Part of the reason Saucier may have been treated so aggressively is the way he handled being found out - initially denying he'd taken any pictures, and then destroying his laptop computer, a camera and a memory card after an interview with the FBI in 2012.