READINESS: US Navy says 3 nuclear-powered attack submarines ‘not certified to dive today.’

The spotlight has been on the USS Boise, which has now been out of service for four years. Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William Moran told senators during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday that the Boise would enter a private shipyard in January, but two other submarines “are not certified to dive today.”

The Navy has been working for years to get more submarines into dry dock for maintenance, which now includes the use of private sector shipyards in addition to public ones. As many as 15 subs awaited maintenance in Oct. 2017, keeping a significant chunk of the service’s 71-submarine fleet potentially out of service.

“We want no more Boise’s,” Moran told senators, adding that the other two submarines will enter dry dock in February and late spring.

“The numbers are coming down significantly. The standing in line has come down significantly,” he added. “We still have a ways to go. We’re not out of the woods yet, but I think as capacity opens up in the private yards, and we do a better job in the public yards, getting our carriers out on time, we’ll be there.”

The sequester has played absolute hell with Navy maintenance schedules.