More than 500 people gathered at Austal USA’s Mobile shipyard on June 13 to christen the future USS Gabrielle Giffords, the Navy’s newest littoral combat ship and the fifth vessel Austal has delivered under a $3.5 billion, 10-ship contract.
The 416-foot trimaran, designed to hunt submarines, sweep mines, intercept drug traffickers and deliver humanitarian aid, bears the name of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was severely wounded in a 2011 shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that killed six people and injured 13 others.
“Like you, Gabby, she will be strong all the time, kind when reaching out to our allies and tough when she needs to be,” Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle told the crowd.
Giffords, whose remarks were brief but heartfelt, thanked the shipyard workers who built the vessel. “She’s stealthy. She will defend freedom around the world. Go Navy,” she said.
Second Lady Jill Biden served as the ship’s sponsor, calling the future USS Gabrielle Giffords “an amazing feat of engineering excellence” and noting she would serve as an honorary crew member for life. Vice Admiral Philip Cullom, deputy chief of naval operations for fleet readiness and logistics, said Giffords “has truly modeled courage and resilience,” qualities he said would define the ship’s character.
The christening marked another milestone for Austal’s Mobile operation, which Perciavalle said has grown from a single shed and two trailers in 1999 into a major shipbuilding campus, with more than $380 million invested along the Mobile waterfront in the past five years alone. He credited the state’s congressional delegation and Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson with helping create conditions for that growth.
Dennis McGinn, assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment, called the Independence-class littoral combat ships built in Mobile “one of the Navy’s greatest achievements” because of their flexible, modular design, which allows the fleet to adapt quickly to different missions.
The christening reinforced Mobile’s growing role in national shipbuilding, an industry that has become one of the region’s largest employers and a source of steady economic investment along the waterfront.