Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus says allowing women to serve on submarines is an idea whose time has come.

And, he says, he sees no major hurdles from the Obama administration implementing the policy change.

Mabus gave no timeline for when the change would take effect. He says officials first must come up with a plan for how to do it, notify Congress of the plan and then the women must complete training to serve.

Mabus says women should have the ability to serve throughout the Navy and the proposed change would be in keeping with that. His comments came Thursday during a visit to Northrop Grumman Corp.’s shipbuilding yard in Pascagoula.