Second Lady Jill Biden is scheduled to speak in Mobile on June 13 as the ship’s sponsor at the christening of the future USS Gabrielle Giffords, the newest littoral combat ship built by Austal USA along the Mobile River.
The ceremony, a closed event set for midday, will mark the christening of the 16th U.S. naval vessel named for a woman, and only the 13th ship since 1850 named for a living person. As of the days leading up to the event, Vice President Joe Biden was not among the scheduled participants.
Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt in 2011, is expected to attend alongside her husband, retired Navy Capt. and former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly. U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has described Giffords as “synonymous with courage” for the resilience she has shown since the shooting.
Other scheduled speakers include Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle, Dennis McGinn, assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment, and Vice Adm. Philip Cullom, deputy chief of naval operations for fleet readiness and logistics.
Littoral combat ships are 416-foot aluminum trimarans designed for a range of missions, including mine countermeasures, submarine hunting, drug interdiction and humanitarian relief. The future USS Gabrielle Giffords is the fifth vessel built under Austal’s $3.5 billion, ten-ship contract with the Navy for Independence-class LCS vessels, and only the third of those ten to reach the christening stage.
At the time of the announcement, seven littoral combat ships were under construction at Austal’s Mobile shipyard. Two Independence-class ships, the USS Independence and USS Coronado, had already entered Navy service, while the future USS Jackson and USS Montgomery were preparing for acceptance trials. The future USS Omaha and USS Manchester were being assembled in the yard’s Bay 4 and Bay 5, and modules for two more ships, the future USS Tulsa and USS Charleston, were also under construction.
The christening underscores Austal’s growing footprint as one of the region’s largest employers, with the Mobile shipyard serving as the exclusive builder of the Navy’s Independence-class fleet under the multi-ship contract.