So the Navy launched its first Littoral Combat Ship yesterday.

Marinette - Christened with bubbly spewing from a cracked bottle of champagne, a cutting-edge, $260 million Navy warship had its first taste of water Saturday after a dramatic launch into the Menominee River.

The 377-foot ship, named Freedom, was built by Marinette Marine Corp. at a pace Navy bosses said was unmatched since the Second World War.

“Just a little more than three years ago, she was just an idea. Now Freedom stands before us,” said Adm. Mike Mullen, who leads the Navy and turned out for a ceremony that drew national and state officials plus members of at least three foreign navies.

The ship, slated to be delivered to the Navy next summer, is the first of the 55 the service wants to add to the fleet.

As a son of the south, the northern part of my North American geography has always been rather weak. Perhaps that’s why, having learned that the ship had been launched in a river feeding into Lake Michigan, I feared that someone had made a horrible mistake - how would she ever get to sea? But a quick consultation of a map proved that all would be well in time, so long as Montreal and Quebec remain in more or less friendly hands.

So that’s a relief.