California, Oct 23 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The U.S. Navy said on Wednesday that it would deploy its new littoral combat ship, the USS Freedom, to California ahead of schedule in early 2010.

USS Freedom was to be closeted with the fleet in early 2010, but it was decided to speed up the deployment to get the new littoral combat ships integrated into the fleet as quickly as possible, naval officials said.

“This deployment offers a golden opportunity to learn by doing,” Adm. J.C. Harvey said in a written statement issued by the Department of Defense.

Jeff Geiger, president of team-leader Bath Iron Works, was on-board for the ship’s high-speed trials on October 15. He said, “Independence exceeded our expectations in terms of maneuverability, stability, handling and speed. We are very pleased to be one step closer to delivering this highly capable, versatile and lethal platform to the United States Navy.”

Upon returning from the full-power trial, Joe Rella, president and chief operating officer of Austal USA, remarked: “The LCS did extremely well. Mobile and Alabama can be justifiably proud of their shipbuilders.”

The Navy took into consideration a number of factors before finalizing its decision to integrate the USS Freedom into its fleet early. It also postponed some scheduled testing that involved tasks the ship was less likely to have to perform in its normal and routine course of duty.