USS Gabrielle Giffords in San Diego on 20 October 2017
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Gabrielle Giffords |
Namesake | Gabby Giffords |
Awarded | 16 March 2012[4] |
Builder | Austal USA[13] |
Cost | US$475 million[11][5][12] |
Laid down | 16 April 2014[4] |
Launched | 25 February 2015[1] |
Sponsored by |
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Christened | 13 June 2015[10] |
Acquired | 23 December 2016[2] |
Commissioned | 10 June 2017[3] |
Homeport | San Diego[5][6] |
Identification |
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Motto |
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Status | Active[6] |
Badge | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Independence-class littoral combat ship |
Displacement | 2,307 tonnes light, 3,104 tonnes full, 797 tonnes deadweight[4] |
Length | 127.4 m (418 ft)[4] |
Beam | 31.6 m (104 ft)[4] |
Draft | 14 ft (4.27 m)[4] |
Propulsion | 2× gas turbines, 2× diesel, 4× waterjets, retractable Azimuth thruster, 4× diesel generators |
Speed | 40 kn + (46 mph; 74 km/h), 47 knots (54 mph; 87 km/h) sprint |
Range | 4,300 nmi (8,000 km; 4,900 mi) at 20 kn + (23 mph; 37 km/h) |
Capacity | 210 tonnes (230 short tons) |
Complement | 70, blue / gold 112 if single crewed. |
Sensors and processing systems |
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Electronic warfare & decoys |
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Armament |
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Aircraft carried | 2× MH-60R/S Seahawks |
USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) is an Independence-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy.[4] The ship is named after former United States Representative Gabby Giffords, who was shot along with eighteen other people during a 2011 shooting in Tucson, Arizona.[7] The ship's name was announced by then-Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus on 10 February 2012.[7][8][16] Gabrielle Giffords is the 16th U.S. naval ship to be named for a woman by the United States Navy, and the 13th U.S. naval ship since 1850 to be named after a living person.[17]
Construction on Gabrielle Giffords began with her keel laying on 16 April 2014, at the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Alabama.[18] Rep. Giffords, still recovering from injuries sustained in the 2011 assassination attempt, attended the ship's keel-laying ceremony,[18][19] and with the assistance of an Austal welder, welded her initials into a plate that would become part of the ship's hull.[19] Gabrielle Giffords was launched, and then moved from her construction facility to drydock, on 26 February 2015.[20] The ship was christened in a ceremony held at the Austal USA shipyard on 13 June 2015,[9][10] and Second Lady of the United States Jill Biden served as ship sponsor at the christening.[9] The ship was delivered to the U.S. Navy on 23 December 2016,[2] and commissioned the following spring on 10 June 2017, in Galveston, Texas.[11][6]
Gabrielle Giffords will join her sister LCSs in their homeport of San Diego in July and continue testing and training for future deployed operations.
A new warship named after former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded during a deadly 2011 shooting, has been put into active service following a commissioning ceremony in Texas.
Woodley said the $475 million ship has limited crew of about 70.