"To have any real meaning, "entered service" should mean operationally capable, in the hands of a front-line, fully qualified crew; nothing less."
Maybe but that is just not the ideal way things are.
And yet in the case of HMS Astute which was commissioned last month, according to the 1st SL, “
Today is an important milestone along the road to full operational capability which will follow after a further series of demanding seagoing trials testing the full range of the submarine’s capabilities”.
What is the difference?
The only one that springs to mind is that the
PR machine for the Dark Blue is much much better than the one employed by the Light Blue.